The Oblivious and The Denier
by Trchy
Summary: After meeting a new girl that is literally closer to Ritsu, Mio struggles for her surfacing feelings for Ritsu, to make matters worse, the new girl has also admitted to have feelings for Ritsu. Pairings: Mio x Ritsu, and a little bit of Yui x Azusa
1. CHAPTER I

**THE OBLIVIOUS AND THE DENIER **

_The story is based around the famous four panel manga, and anime K-On which centers around the lives of five exquisite members of the Keongaku Club or directly translated into Light Music Club.  
The characters, setting and start-up plot are from the original material and all belongs to their respectful creators and producers.  
_

**CHAPTER I: THE WANTED GIRLFRIEND AND THE WANTING FRIEND**

_I hate it when people ask me again and again about that day_

_I don't like to remember what happened that day_

"Come on already Ricchan! You promised to tell if I can play the song correctly!" Yui insists the carefree drummer who was still sitting in front of her drums.

The group has just finished playing another song that Mio has recently composed, it's been a long time since they've played together after the school festival, and Yui's forgetful nature has taken its turn already. Ritsu was fine with just having tea for the afternoon, but Mio just shot her with a bump when she suggested this, Azusa was also on the side of practicing and Mugi, well she's not on anyone's side. The self-proclaimed president didn't had a choice now, she forced herself to stand up from the chair she always sat on by the table, the right chair next to hers was also occupied by a kindred soul, Yui was still seating at her chair while everyone else was already preparing their instruments. Ritsu noticed this and called her to prepare too, but Yui doesn't move or say anything at all until Ritsu drags her out of her chair to the practice area; she fixes the tune of Gitah and waits for the start. Ritsu raises her drumsticks and taps them 3 times, everyone then starts to play except Yui who has obviously forgotten her tabs once again, Ritsu stops the playing and asks Yui to remember her tabs first, everyone then re-prepares while waiting,. Mugi takes this time to make some tea, Azusa continues to practice with Mio, Ritsu on the other hand seats on the wooden sofa at the front of the practice area, she sighs there while wiping her sweat with her hand, Mugi puts the tea down the table when she notices what Ritsu is doing. Mugi walks to the sofa and suddenly wipes Ritsu's sweat in the face with her handkerchief; much to Ritsu's surprise that now has a pink hue of embarrassment, Mugi smiles and folds her handkerchief before calling everyone for tea.

After their short break, Ritsu was in for another surprise, Yui has just finished her cake and suddenly takes her guitar, she then looks at Ritsu and asks her with a serious face

"Ricchan, if you were a boy who would you date from the four of us?"

"Huh?" Ritsu is dumfounded by Yui's question, she didn't find it very weird but it was absolutely out of the moment.

"It just came to my mind because I saw a movie last night and…." Yui was cut short

"I don't need to answer a silly question like that" Ritsu barges in before Yui could add more.

"Then, let's have a deal Ricchan, if I can play this whole song correctly, you have to answer my question!"

Yui was serious with knowing the answer and it somehow fueled her up to do the practice which at the time was Ritsu's only concern. Ritsu half-heartedly agreed thinking that Yui would let her slip but that's not until the song ended perfectly, with no mistakes coming from the lead guitarist.

"Wow Yui-senpai, you were perfect!" Azusa exclaimed happily, feeling that it was the first time Yui got it right from the start.  
Everyone sits at the table for Ricchan's answer; the five of them are at their usual places in the table, Mio and Mugi are at the left side of the table facing parallel to Ritsu and Yui, and at the head seat is Azusa. Everyone's eyes are on Ritsu's who is now finding a way to get out,

" Really, Yui, you and your crazy antics" Ritsu crosses her arms while looking at Yui

"Well, I accidentally watched a weird movie last night where two girls were doing things that lovers only do" Yui also crosses her arms while looking at Ritsu.

" And why am I connected to what you watched?...It's yuri too by the way!" Ritsu blushes on Yui's indirect reference to a yuri film,

"Well, the protagonist looked and acted a lot like you, from the hairstyle to the way of talking!" Yui pouches her lips as if to emphasize her reason, a bit of red crossing her cheeks

"look like her?... and so what If I look like her! I'm not a Les for friggin out loud"

"It's not like that Ricchan! I'm just really curious with the thought that if we were to become boys, who will date who?"

"Then why am I the only one at the hot seat?"

" Datte…You look like the girl from the movie, so I had to ask you first"

"Well, how about you? Who would you prefer?"

"Azu-nyan!"

_What a quick response_. Everyone thought.

"So, what's your answer Ricchan?" Mugi happily dips in the conversation,

"Well… " Ritsu's embarrassment is more visible now by the redness of her cheeks.  
She stares at the four girls who were waiting for her answer,  
_Yui? No, too childish_

_Azusa? Hmmm, too young, and she's already Yui's  
_

_Mio? Dangerous queen  
_

_Mugi?... hmm Mugi's alright  
_

"I think I'll chose Mugi" Ritsu smiles brightly while looking at Mugi

"Is that so?, I'm honored Ricchan" Mugi is now fidgeting in her seat, taking no notice in this Ritsu then looks at Yui again, arms still crossed. "Well then Yui, I've answered your question, anymore to add?" Ritsu looks at Yui who seems to be thinking of another question, when Mio suddenly asks from the adjacent seat

"Why Mugi?"

"Why Mugi?..." Ritsu is now looking at Mio "well she's just the kindest, Gallant, caring and sweet type from the four of us."

"You're not fit for someone like that you know" Mio looks at Ritsu with a nonchalant expression.

"What an awful way to put it Mio, hidoi" Ritsu frowns at Mio, The two of them then change glares, waiting for a next exclamation, but Yui suddenly said " Ah!", Ritsu glares away from Mio and asks Yui

"What's with the eureka exclamation?"

"Ricchan, if Mugi –chan were to be your girlfriend if you were a boy, would you marry her?" Yui's face is serious as she says it.

"What? Marry?, Yui, your questions are really becoming something" Ritsu's arm crossing is gone now as she holds Yui's shoulders,

"Come on, Ricchan, you answered the first one, this is just a continuation" Yui just smiles at Ritsu not minding the hard grip of Ritsu's hands in her shoulders. After a while though Ritsu let's go of Yui's shoulders and just falls lean on her chair.

"Mou, If it's marrying, then Mugi is really not a choice, I could imagine the burden of marrying into a really rich family, I not cut-out for that kind of lifestyle" Ritsu, then scans the other four again and abruptly stops her vision at Mio, who is now lifting her an eyebrow

"What?" Mio says in an obviously annoyed tone  
Ritsu, exclaims some "hmm's" now and then, accompanied with a bit of chin stroking and head scratching until she stomps her right hand fist to the palm of her left hand,

"It's definitely Mio, If there was someone I know I could live with forever, It's no one but Mio, She might be a hassle sometimes, and a little hard on me but I….!ahh!"

Ritsu's sentence hang midair when Mio steps on her foot, it was clear in Ritsu's scream that the step had an utter force applied to it.

"What the hell! Mio! That hurt!"

"I'd do it again if you tell things like that!"

Ritsu doesn't answer back to Mio anymore; she just looked at Yui and said

"This is all your fault"

Yui looks at her "Why?" "I didn't tell you to choose Mio-chan"

Ritsu's face then turns into a reaction that shows speechlessness and just sighs, she then looks at Mio again, for a couple of seconds she just stares at her, she then sighs and shortly after, just smiles and stretches her hands up

"Well then, I think that's all for today, let's go home"

Everyone quietly stands up and fix their things. The five of them separate at a street bound by the Train rails, Yui, Azusa and Mugi goes straight from the previous street while Mio and Ritsu turns to the left.  
Ritsu's house is first from Mio's, as they arrived near it, they say their goodbyes and Ritsu runs to her house while Mio will walk on her own for another 5 houses. After passing Ritsu's house she notices a big truck parked halfway in front of Ritsu's and their neighbor's house, Mio dismisses what she saw and just continues to reach her own home.

The Next Day-  
it was just the start of the morning when Mio was already looking for Ritsu, The two of them goes to school together every day but Ritsu already left when Mio went to her house, Ritsu's mom told her that Ritsu said something about accompanying a new friend .  
_A new friend?..._Mio thought while looking for Ritsu in the classroom, she still wasn't there, but after a few minutes, Ritsu appears from the front door and goes to her desk, Mio thought of this as a chance to talk with Ritsu, but Ritsu quickly left after putting her bag down, Mio becomes more curious of what's happening and decides to follow Ritsu outside of the classroom.

_Dammit… Homeroom's going to start soon you baka  
_

Mio gets annoyed as she chases Ritsu who was walking slightly fast, she suddenly stops at a corner and takes out her cellphone, it seems that she was hurrying to answer a call,

" moshi moshi, Ricchan speaking"

Mio has now stopped walking too, she is just a few distance from Ritsu. She stands there hearing bits and pieces of Ritsu's communication with someone on the cellphone.

_Who could she be talking to?  
_

Mio, was wondering, she waited for the call to stop, she was going to ask Ritsu when she was suddenly pulled by the hand, Ritsu was now running back to their classroom holding Mio's hand, Mio was surprised, and tried to ask Ritsu about the caller but Ritsu doesn't answer, Mio could feel Ritsu's grip on her hand beginning to get tighter but before they could crush Mio's fragile Hand, Ritsu let go's, Mio is again surprised and see's that they're in the classroom already,

_I was too fixated about Ritsu's grip that I didn't realize we were back already….  
wait now's my chance to ask her,  
_

"Ritsu, who were you talking to in your phone just now?" Mio asks quickly

"Ah, that, you'll soon meet" Ritsu just smiles and goes to her seat, Mio continues to stand at her position.

"So I don't know the person yet" Mio looks at Ritsu from afar who was now merrily talking with the others, she stops to worry about the matter and just went to her seat too.

Lunch break comes and the Hoka-go Tea Time eat their lunch together at the classroom, from Yui's seat, the four of them joins their tables together to form a bigger one, with all four of them including Nodoka .  
Mio is seated at the head seat parallel to the window, Ritsu is at her left side, talking with someone again in her cellphone, the call lasts shorter now,

"Ok then, dya ne" Ritsu hangs the call

"Oy, you should at least go outside if you need to talk with someone, were eating here" Mio scolds at Ritsu,

"hehe, gomen" Ritsu answers while scratching the back of her neck, she then dugs to her own lunch, Mio stares at her for a moment,  
_Just who is it that she's been talking to since this morning?._

When everyone was done eating they started to separate the tables and arrange them back, before moving her own, Mio held Ritsu's sleeve who was pushing her table,

"What is it Mio?" Ritsu stops pushing the table.

"Something's definitely up, just who have you been talking to?" Mio now seems desperate for an answer, Ritsu understood and was now opening her mouth to tell her but their next teacher has already arrived and ordered them to go back to their seats now.  
Ritsu looks at the front door, but she suddenly feels a thug in her sleeves again, she remembers Mio and looks back at her,

"I guess my answers here" Ritsu smiles at Mio, she then continues to push her table to its original position, seconds later, the classroom is now back to normal, when everyone was properly seated the Teacher started an introduction to someone who would be joining their class from now on,

"Well, it's already half of the school year, but we have a transferee who will be a part of this class from now on"

Everyone seems surprise, except Ritsu who is obviously excited, and only Mio noticed this,  
The front door then becomes the star of the moment as everyone's attention is focused to see who exactly is going to enter from it, a few split seconds pass as they hear footsteps until enough figure is seen from the emerging person, time seemed to become slower as the new student comes in, a beauty in the eye of any, the transferee was like Athena herself going down to earth from the gates of heaven, The new girl was undeniably gorgeous in every sense. She stops from walking as she reaches near the teacher's table and faces in front; the reaction of everyone was speechless and amazed, whispering of how beautiful she was went on between seatmates and a great feeling of excitement was felt inside the room.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" The teacher, a middle-aged woman asked the new girl, The girl nodded to the teacher and started her introduction.

"Good Day Everyone, My name is Miyu Yamaki, I'm really excited to attend this school and I hope that we can all get along well." Miyu smiles through the whole introduction but she kept on switching her eyes to different directions like she was looking for something… or someone, everyone replies to her introduction with encouraging and friendly response's and she continues to smile at everyone, but a moment later her eyes stop wandering, a rapid enlargement of her pupils is noticeable and her smile becomes even wider, she was staring at only one direction, to where everyone seemed to follow, Mio on the other hand was confused because even before everyone could follow Miyu's direction of sight, Mio knew where Miyu's eyes were focused, even if it was a bit far from her and even if she didn't think twice, there would be no mistaking that Miyu's eyes were fixed to Ritsu.

"Ricchan!" Miyu exclaims from her position, as if finding treasure, Miyu quickly runs to Ritsu and to everyone's shock, Miyu hugs Ritsu with all the might that she had, Ritsu who was the most surprised almost falls back with her chair if not for a quick reflex of her body to balance the situation. Ritsu kind of pushes Miyu away, Miyu notices this and let go's from the hug too,

"Ricchan! We're classmates now! Were classmates now!" Miyu shouts happily while holding both of Ritsu's hand, The whole scene is a confusion to everyone, who are now asking on what's going on,

" Are the two of you close to each other?" Ritsu's seatmate asks her.

"Well in a way, yeah, she's my neighbor" Ritsu answers, Miyu then hugs her from the back and barges in

"And Ricchan's new friend"

"Eh?" everyone bellows, Many of which can't accept that Ritsu is actually close with their new goddess of a classmate.

"Surui da (your unfair) Ritsu" some would tell Ritsu who is still wrapped in Miyu's hug.

While these events were happening, one person in the room was in her own world, Mio just sat at her seat while looking at the scene, a thousand questions running through her mind.

_She's the new friend? Do new friends even hug that much?  
_

_She's Ritsu's neighbor?  
_

_Why is that Ritsu blushing?_

_Ughhh! That baka has a lot of explaining to do!_

The day's class has ended and everyone is now frolicking in Miyu's seat which is just at the right of Ritsu's, Miyu is really beautiful but she is also shy like Mio, She keeps on holding onto Ritsu's right hand while talking with everyone,  
_Are all beautiful girl like this?_ Ritsu contemplates on the moments resemblance when Mio is also the center of attention.

From all the girls that have clustered in front , Mio emerges and goes straight to Ritsu, She and Miyu closes into an eye-to eye contact but Mio breaks free after a few seconds, she then stares at Ritsu

"We have club activities buchou" Mio states, arms crossed with a condescending voice.

"Hai, be right there, but it would be faster if you help me through this crowd" Ritsu sounds pleading,

"It'd be easier if you let Yamaki-san leave first" Mio then looks at Miyu, Mio might not show it but she's bothered by the way Miyu is haggling onto Ritsu's right hand.

"You can call me Miyu-chan, Mio-chan" Miyu smiles at Mio, and an evident tightening of her hold on Ritsu's right hand doesn't go ignored by Mio.

"Your names sound similar, it's confusing somehow" some of the girls from the crowd suddenly choruses,

"Yeah, yeah, and not to mention that they also resemble each other" Another group adds on

"It's almost like a requirement to be beautiful and shy if your name is a form of Mio" The others continue to add, now laughing at their conversation, and with all these busy chatting. Ritsu, Mio and Miyu were able to escape.

"hah…hah…(panting) good thing we escaped but why is Yamaki-san still with us?" Mio looks at Ritsu who has trouble running because Miyu was still holding onto her right arm, and it seemed that Miyu wasn't really the running type too.

"I told you that you can call me Miyu-chan, Mio-chan!" Miyu barges while panting very hardly, slowly stopping to run, Ritsu senses this and soon stops running too, Mio, who was further ahead stops too and comes back to them,

"It's awkward to call you that when our names sound so alike" Mio answers Miyu  
Miyu was now sitting in the floor, her hand has let go of Ritsu's arm and she was now panting while sweat dripped from her forehead,

"But, Ricchan says that calling each other…ahhh…by the first name makes you become closer….ahhh"

" I see" Mio says and turns to Ritsu who is sure of what will happen next, she gets bumped in the head and Miyu sees this, she quickly stands up and grabs Mio's hand,

"Don't do that to Ricchan!" Miyu yells at Mio, Mio is speechless. It's the first time someone has stopped her from hitting Ritsu, it felt like she was hurting Ritsu, Mio felt an uncomfortable guilt welling up in her, but Ritsu makes Miyu's hand let go of her grab, Mio's free hand falls to her waist, and her head is kept bowed. Ritsu knows this is bad, so she tells something to Miyu, Mio stands there at their back, she doesn't hear what Ritsu is telling Miyu. A quite minute passes, Miyu approaches in front of Mio and says sorry and that she understands now, but Mio doesn't reply, seeing Mio's reaction, Ritsu sighed and lifted her hand to Miyu's shoulder

"I guess tomorrows a good deal, could you wait for me in the classroom?" Ritsu tells Miyu

"O…kay, …." Miyu answers, she then looks back at Mio "I'm sorry again Mio"  
Mio still doesn't replies, Miyu's face becomes confused and worried so she just leaves the two and goes to back to the classroom.  
Ritsu goes closer in front of Mio

"It's not your fault, she's just a bit off….you know?, a bit too innocent, more than Yui" Ritsu tries to comfort Mio,

"No, she's in a whole different world, I'm sorry too, I kind of ruined her first day" Mio's head is now lifted and her eyes are now on Ritsu's.

Mio felt better seeing Ritsu's eyes didn't look mad or angry, instead Ritsu's eyes were really warm to the feeling, it might be because of its hazel color but to Mio, she knew that it was because this were her best friends eyes. The eyes that never failed to see through her, the eyes that got attracted to her since their childhood, the eyes that were always curved to go with her best friend's big smiles and laughs. Mio loved to stare at Ritsu's eyes, she always felt warm in their sight.  
Ritsu sees that Mio is starting to feel better, so she gives her a big smile and holds her hand, she then shifts to lock their arms together, Ritsu's right arm on Mio's left arm,

"Milady is easily upset, you know its ok with me if you hit me, but reactions like ouch and itai are really an unconscious response, so it really doesn't hurt me" Ritsu explains while walking, doing her best to make Mio feel better.

"Really?" Mio answers with an unsure voice, she knows that Ritsu is just comforting her, but she does consider that Ritsu is saying the truth.

"yeah, really, really!" ritsu responses determinably, while also thinking that this might make Mio more prone to hitting her, but she doesn't care so much about it for the moment, right now she needs to make Mio feel better.  
Mio was happy with Ritsu's effort to comfort her but she notices that something is wrong.

"What about the club?" Mio then asks and stops walking when she notices that they're heading back to the classroom.

"I need to accompany Miyu home today, it's her first day and she needs a guide to the streets"

"Then I'll come with" Mio replies

"Huh? Then you better tell the others first, they might wait for you" Ritsu tells her

"What about you? Have you informed them already?" Mio quizzically asks

"huh? Oh yeah, I haven't too! I was thinking of making you tell them"

"Then why didn't you tell me from the first place, before we ran to the hallway!?" Mio is now back on her bad vibes and is struggling to let go from Ritsu's wrapped arm on hers.

"Because I was really planning on taking Miyu there today, but after what happened in the hallway I thought that tomorrow would be a better choice, which ended up in me comforting you so that you'd help me tell the others that I have to go early today!" Ritsu spoke so fast, her arm was now separated from Mio's, it looks like the drummer was also embarrassed to tell the true reason why she wanted to comfort Mio, Mio was now mad, her eyes were showing her anger as her brows bend down to the maximum and her teeth grind in position.

"Inform them yourself you baka!" Mio shouts at Ritsu and hits her again in the head, she then walks out and leaves Ritsu holding her head in the hallway, Mugi then shows up and see's Ritsu

"Ricchan, you have a bump on your head" Mugi stares at the victims head, it seems that Mugi was a little late to see what Mio just did.

"Yeah, looks like I made Mio mad again"

Mugi understands this and looks at Ritsu's bump again, telling in her thoughts

_Yeah, from the size of that bump, Ricchan must have crossed Mio's limits again_ .

Ritsu looks at the hallway where Mio just passed through and sighed, she then turns to Mugi, who was still staring at her bump; Ritsu finds this awkward and just stares away while asking Mugi.

"Ne, Mugi, I need to accompany Miyu home today so I can't come to the clubroom, can you let Yui and Azusa know?"

"No problem Ricchan, take care going home" Mugi smiles and stops staring at Ritsu's bump after realizing that the drummer wasn't looking at her anymore.

"hehe, Hai, Thanks" Ritsu then goes to their classroom and calls for Miyu, she sees Miyu saying her goodbyes with relief, and while waiting for her to come, Ritsu calls out to Mugi who was still not far,

"Ne, Mugi"

Mugi stops from walking and looks back at Ritsu " What is it Ricchan?"

Ritsu stares at Mugi, somehow deciding if she is to tell what she wants.

Chapter One End.


	2. CHAPTER II

Mugi stops walking when she hears Ritsu call for her, she turns back and asks her but instead of answering her, Ritsu just shots her a look of confusion, she then decides to approach her, but just as she reaches Ritsu, Miyu suddenly appears and takes hold of Ritsu's arm,  
Miyu notices Mugi and greets her

"Hi there Mugi-chan!"

"Oh, Hi Mi..." Mugi seems to be bothered by the likeness of Mio and Miyu's name " Miyu-chan" Mugi still manages to finish.

"Me and Ricchan are leaving now, would you want to come along?"

"ah, no, thank you, I still have club activities" Mugi smiles warmly at Miyu but at the same time shots a questioning glare at Ritsu, which Ritsu notices

"Ah, Mugi-chan, about that …. It's nothing…I just got what I wanted to ask.." Ritsu was definitely lying "ahehe…so, I'm sorry to have let you worry"

"Well, if you say so Ricchan" Mugi just goes with the flow. The situation is unread by Miyu and just pushes Ricchan to leave now,

"Bye then Mugi-chan" Miyu waves at Mugi while dragging Ritsu to leave.

Mugi waves back at them, but as soon as the two are out of sight Mugi puts her wave down and makes a suspicious expression, she goes to the window and watches how Miyu clings onto Ritsu while walking, Mugi stares at them while whispered words escape from her

_she's definitely a good actress._

That Night-

At the Tainaka Residence  
Ritsu has just finished taking a bath and was now sitting at the floor on her bedroom, stroking a towel in her damp hair; she does this for a couple of minutes, as soon as she stops her head falls to her bed, she stretches her feet under her bedrooms center table and stares at the ceiling

_I think I should call Mio._

She took her cellphone and searched for Mio's number, but as the no. appeared something suddenly struck Ritsu, she was at the same position Mio was when she visited the sick Ritsu a year ago, remembering this, Ritsu became more upset, she's always causing Mio some trouble, no, A LOT of trouble, however unintentional it was. She then puts the phone to her forehead and slaps it

"You Baka!" she reprimands herself, knowing that she deserved it, and imagining that it was Mio who did it to her.  
She then brings her finger to the call button,

_ring ring ring_**  
**

the ring was awfully long, Ritsu was sure that Mio would not answer now, but just as she was to put down her Cellphone, the familiar voice of the bassist comes to the line.

"Hello"

"huh! Hi there, Mio!" Ritsu is surprised that Mio still answered the call, "I thought you weren't going to answer"

"What? No, I was just…doing something….so what is it?"

_She's lying; it's obvious she was thinking of not answering_

Ritsu thought, but continued the conversation anyways

"I wanted to say sorry Milady, I know what I did this afternoon was stupid"

_tst…stupid you say? Happy you noticed_

Mio wanted to answer but she didn't want to waste Ritsu's effort to apologize

"I'm glad you realized that, and don't call me Milady so frankly" although she said this a betraying blush has just travelled through her cheeks.

"But you are my Milady" Ritsu answers her which makes Mio blush more from the other line

"I'm hanging up, and your still not forgiven!" Mio pushes the decline button as soon as she says this, from the Akiyama Residence, Mio was sitting in her study table, she stares at her cellphone still thinking about the conversation and feels her cheeks burning, she knows it without looking in the mirror, she can imagine herself with two tomato cheeks,

_why is my mind putting too much meaning in what she calls me anyways? Ughh!_

"Always the shy type eh?" Ritsu stares at her cellphone too, unknown of her best friend's uncanny reaction to the mere Milady that she calls her.

The Next Day-

The classes run like any normal day, everyone is peaceful and Miyu is becoming more and more popular that even those in the lower years come philandering in the senior's hallway just to get a glimpse of the schools new proclaimed goddess. Miyu is really friendly with everyone but no one can really get close to her, especially that she's always clinging onto Ritsu, who is evidently annoyed, both with the perpetual clinging and the noisy guests.  
The day ends, and After school comes into action, The Hoka-go Tea time members are now preparing to go to the club room, Mugi approaches Mio from her seat, she tilts Mio to turn away from the others and whispers to her,

"Mio-chan aren't you bothered by that Miyu?"

"Bothered is a low word to describe how I feel Mugi"

"Are you jealous then?"

"Jea…What?" Mio shouts this out and the others just stared at them, realizing that the two have been secretly whispering at their backs, Yui and Ritsu asks what they're talking about,

"Nothing, nothing, I'm just asking something from Mio-chan" Mugi chan replies just tilting her head a bit to look at the two, she then quickly tilts back to Mio,

"Shhh..Mio-chan, they might hear us"

"But Mugi-chan, your question was just…."

"Mio, its normal to get jealous if a new friend is more clingy than the best friend" Mugi then looks straight at Mio

"You're the childhood friend right? The best friend, you have to show that Miyu that your Ricchans no.1!" Mio is now blushing she looks away from Mugi, she can't believe what Mugi has been telling her, she knows what Mugi meant but there was just something off with it, the jealousy, the no.1, Mio's head kept repeating those words even if she didn't command to, the longer the words were repeating the more flustered Mio becomes until she breaks it, she looks back at Mugi with determined eyes

_I need to show her that I perfectly know what she's saying! I'm the only one with the misunderstanding.  
_

"That's right Mugi-chan, we have the club next, we'll be sure to separate her from Ritsu!"

"yeah!..wait..we?" Mugi now sees that Mio misunderstood her "Mio-chan I only meant yo …  
before Mugi could continue Mio begins to face in front of Yui and Ritsu, she calls them to leave now, she then makes her way to Ritsu, Mio plans to take Ritsu's hand but she sees that Miyu was still hanging onto her,

"Buchou, we have to go now" Mio tells Ritsu instead

Ritsu knows that Mio was referring to make Miyu leave, "She's coming" Ritsu simply replies, everyone is surprised, Mio most certainly

"Huh?" was what Mio could only react.

Ritsu then looks at Miyu, like an unspoken language, Miyu lets go of Ritsu's arm and explains herself,

"I actually had a band from my previous school, I was the drummer and vocalist, so Ricchan told me that I could join the club if I wanted to… and" Miyu is now blushing to which Mio takes notice of, Mugi goes close to Mio and whispers "she's blushing"

"yeah, I see" Mio whispers back to Mugi, "and when Ricchan told me that she was the president of the club I knew that I really had to join!" Miyu finishes her sentence.

Mugi and Mio still looks at her blushing face, "why is she blushing?" asks Mio to Mugi

Mugi simply lifts her shoulders telling Mio that she doesn't know too, but is really having a suspicion in her mind. Yui, on the other hand just lets the situation pass, just happy that their club will now have a new member.  
All of them are now at the club room, and Ritsu has introduced Miyu to Azusa and Sawa-chan . They then do something that has somehow become a tradition when recruiting a member; they perform a song to Miyu, as a welcoming to the club.  
They played fuwa fuwa time, Miyu was oozing with praise but it was not for the HTT, she was only praising Ritsu and ignored everything else including the song, which seems to have not even reached her ears.  
After their performance, everyone sits down at the table, suddenly realizing that the table could only seat a total of six people, and they were now seven, Ritsu went into the storage room to take out a chair and placed it near hers, but to the surprise of everyone she gives her seat to Miyu, and decides to sit on the chair she took out of the storage. Mio is somehow annoyed at this; Miyu was now the one who was sitting parallel to her.  
The usual tea time starts then, chat and exchange of stories, after their tea time something that Mio never thought she would ever be grateful about, happened, Sawako quickly ogles at Miyu, eyeing her head to toe, everyone knows what this means

_hmmm…long jet black hair  
slim body with snow white skin  
big boobs, approximately 2inches bigger than Mio's  
Red blazing eyes  
and a seductive smile_

After analyzing Miyu, Sawako makes her signature grin of success, she takes Miyu by the left arm and in a flash drags her out of the room, Ritsu stands up and holds up her hand to grab Sawako but she's long gone now with her new prey. Mio then stands up too and puts Ritsu's hand down,

"They'll come back soon"

"That's not really the problem, I'm scared of what Sawa-chan will make her wear"

_And you never worried when it was me?  
_

Mio didn't understand her exasperation at the time but she sure forgot to hide it from her face, Ritsu sees Mio's expression and soon claps her hands above her head while bowing,

"I'm sorry Mio-chan!, I also get worried when it's you but I know your used to Sawa-chan!"

"Huh? Say what?" Mio exclaimed

_is she a mind reader or something? _Oddly enough, Ritsu just kind of read it in Mio's reaction that she was irritated.

Dismissing the matter, Mio just shrubs what happened and continues her true motive of the moment

"About me not forgiving you, I'll bargain it with a story" Mio refers to Ritsu

"What kind of story?"

" mind telling us how exactly you met Miyu?"

"Wow, your calling her Miyu now too"

"That's not the point!"

"ahehehe, I know I just wanted to say that, anyways fine, I really did intend to tell it"

"okay then, start" Mio is now crossed armed, somehow feeling excited to hear the story.

Ritsu remains standing and puts her hands at the pockets of her blazer, "Well, it was on the day we went home after Yui's mischievous interrogation to me…."

After passing Ritsu's house Mio notices a big truck parked halfway in front of Ritsu's and their neighbor's house, Mio dismisses what she saw and just continues to reach her own home.  
Ritsu runs to their front door when she is suddenly stopped by a very unusual thing to see at the afternoons ending, The big truck parked haflway through their front porch was opened from the back, and to anyone's view the beautiful and considered very expensive drum set was settled at the truck's compartment, Ritsu stared at the drum set simply amazed, the color, the shine of the cymbals, and The variety of the drum , it was so easy to see that this drum set was a hundred times better and cooler than hers. Ritsu was just standing there, praising the drum set in her mind when it crossed her that no one was around, she tiptoed her way close to the truck, but not too close, just enough to see the drum more, it was then that she noticed someone emerging behind the drums, Ritsu just stood there to wait for the person to fully come out, there she saw a beautiful girl, the most beautiful she's considered other than Mio, as amazed as she was with the beauty of the drum set, Ritsu is now amazed again by this girl. The girl was tall, most preferably taller than Mio, her hair was tied into a twirl but it was obvious that it was long, and very black, she was wearing a sweat suit that covered her whole legs and arms but from the skin color of her face and hands, she was definitely a snow white. Ritsu's attention has now shifted to hers, the moment was magical enough until the girl suddenly slips just after getting down from the truck, the moment seemed to run in slow motion now, the girl was abruptly falling to her knees while the box she was holding was grasping out of her hands, but Ritsu catches her hands and helps her lift the box. The scene was nothing but a helping out a hand moment to Ritsu but to the girl, it was like a romantic meet up, she felt Ritsu's hand support hers in order to lift the box, she was kneeling down the ground but her knees were still far from touching the cement walkway. The girl looked at Ritsu who was smiling at her, little did Ritsu know that her head was now at the center of the sinking sun, the girl was totally captivated by her, The way she smiled from a sunsets background, and her eyes shining brightly, looking at the girl, Ritsu just smiled there for a long while waiting for the girl to response, it became so long that Ritsu kind of thought that maybe the girl was annoyed of her, Ritsu then let goes of supporting the girls hand and puts them to her head.

" I'm sorry did I startle you?" Ritsu awkwardly asks the girl

"No, no, actually I'm thankful of your help" the girl is blushing, Ritsu notices these but doesn't takes it to matter, the girl then puts down the box that she was holding, she rubs her hands on her sweat shirt and abruptly takes Ritsu's hand " Ughh, can you tell me what your name is?"Ritsu is initially shocked but she was able to answer in a split second

"Ritsu, Tainaka Ritsu"

"I'm Miyu! Yamaki Miyu" the girls face comes close to Ritsu

"you can call me Miyu"

"eh?...Why's my life surrounded by Mio's?" Ritsu doesn't show a reaction when Miyu puts her face closer to hers.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Miyu's face moves away from Ritsu

"I have a childhood friend named Mio, but her name is M-I-O, Mio"

"Ah" Miyu's reaction is unreadable, but the next thing she does is,

"Ritsu-chan right?"

"You can call me Ricchan"

"Ricchan" Miyu's face blushes again,

"You blush a lot…Miyu-chan" Ritsu smiles at Miyu, seeing her smile again Miyu becomes redder, and at that very moment she knew that she liked Ritsu.

"Is the drum set yours?" Ritsu asks Miyu

"Ah" Miyu realized that Ritsu was interested in music by the way she looked at the drums, "Yes, It's mine would you want to play it?"

"Play it? Really?! You'd let me?!" Ritsu was overwhelmed with happiness and Miyu enjoyed Ritsu's happiness.

"Yeah, if you help in taking it to my room, I'll let you play it"

"Will I ever! This drum set is a cupcake to carry, why, I carry mine every day!"

_"That's literally impossible in the sense that drums don't actually need to be moved every day, unless changing venues or specified positions"_

Ritsu was still talking when everyone said that, she was now back to seating at her chair, her hands are still tucked inside the pocket of her blazers.

"Oh come on, she didn't react that way even if she was a drummer herself" Ritsu defended herself

"She could have just let you slip you know" Mio shots her

"Well, whatever, where was I?...ah, yeah and then -

Ritsu became more incredible in Miyu's eyes as she lifted every drum and cymbal to the bedroom, of course Miyu helped but Ritsu was just so fast, she can bring 3 cymbals in one run and go back and forth three times the speed of Miyu.  
By the time Miyu arrived from her second flight, she was surprised to see that everything else was in her room already, and the drum set was already set up. Ritsu was on the drum seat fixing the connections, she then saw the pedal that Miyu brought, she quickly requested for it and just seconds later, the drum set is ready for playing.

"This is awesome Ricchan! You actually lifted a 175 lbs. drum set all by yourself!" Ritsu is not very pleased with the compliment as her back is now aching on the strain of what she just did, "well, you did lift a good 2 pedals, I think that minus at least 1 lb.?"

Miyu laughs at what Ritsu said "Oh, Ricchan, your really funny"

"_A bonafide airhead"  
_

Everyone says together

"Really, now I understand how she slipped so easily from the beginning" Mio says

"But she doesn't seem that way now though" Mugi adds

"Well maybe she has her times" Azusa looks at Yui as she says this

"ha!" Yui notices Azusa's eye lock at her "I'm on Azusa's side" She then proclaims, much to Azusa's head falling to the tables with embarrassment

"We have someone in a different level here though" Ritsu taps Yui's head who shows to like it, making Ritsu's face crack into an expression of a sarcastic.

"What happened next?" Mio was visibly excited to finish the story, she was on the edge of discovering why that Miyu is so clingy to Ritsu, the half of the story has already made her feel uncomfortable, to the way Miyu held Ritsu's hand from their first meeting to how she took advantage of her to lift the drums to her bedroom and the very center of facts that her house was way nearer to Ritsu's, but the horror doesn't stops there.

"What happens next is that I played crazy with her drums! They were awesome, the sound, the vibration, the loudness, everything was in synch and the tunes just sounded perfect even if you don't put too much effort on it!" Ritsu taps her hands in the table while telling this, having the urge of playing it to them at that instant in order for them to understand her more.

"So basically the story ends there" Azusa says as she leans to her chair, "She seems to like you, Ritsu-senpai"

"Well, I guess I know that, I mean she was really kind to me" Ritsu explains "Oh and yeah, I almost forgot, after playing about 3 songs I got tired already and requested for a drink, she went down to take some while I waited for her in the room, and all the drumming really made me sweat so I decided to open the window, and I was just shocked to see that it was right in front of mine, I could even reach my window from hers"

"Woah!, It's like your rooms aren't really separated by a house, just two adjacent windows" Mugi says with a tinge of her yuri fandoms playing.

_Ugh, what an unexpected betrayal_

Mio thought as she saw Mugi daydream, but come to think of it, Mugi was only emphasizing her friendship with Ritsu, so having yuri fantasies of Ritsu and that Miyu was a really different thing or was it?

" The day ended and I went home, when I was already at my room, Miyu knocked at my window, and asked me where my school is, after telling her about sakuragakao, she insisted on enrolling the next day, and Mio…" Ritsu looks at Mio, who's head was still down from being upset of Mugi's fantasies "She's the one I kept talking to in the morning the next day, she really had a hard time with the procedures and all, so I had to help her and cheer her on. At that same day when we were going home, she told me that she clung so much to me because she was really hard on coping with new environments."

_Yeah, cling on to surpass coping issues, didn't know it was applicable with new friends though  
_

Mio whispers,

"huh? Did you say something Mio-chan?" Mugi asked her seatmate

"Ah, no, no, I was just listening"

"Well, that's the end of the story" Ritsu wails as she stretches up in her seat.  
The timing was really great cause by the time Ritsu said this, Sawako came running back with Miyu dragged by her right arm,

"Look at my newest creation!"

_Woah!  
_

The five members exhale. Miyu was suit in a magnificently violet gown with so many ruffles and layers of feathers, her hair was also tied up almost the same way on the day Ritsu first saw her (must've been her request to Sawako) and she also had a bourgeoisie hat on, which commented the color of her gown.

"Great job Sawa-chan! And I thought you were going to make her cry just now"

"Well actually, we took so long because she sewed that gown herself just now" No one answered while their faces showed unbelief.

"Wow, a Richie rich type of gown sew in less than two hours!" Yui is the first to response, she runs to Miyu and holds her fingers "What gifted hands you possess" Yui then pinches Miyu's fingers like that time she found Mio's fingers to be squishy, this scene goes on for an awkward minute until Azusa tells her senpai to stop. Yui does stop it and goes back to her seat.  
Later on, everyone was now waiting for Ritsu who still helped Miyu change back to her uniform, down at their usual separating route, Mugi suddenly tugs onto Mio's arm and whispers "Can we talk now?"

"About what, Mugi-chan?"

"It's about Miyu and Ricchan"

"That again?"

"This is important Mio, I need to let you know this"

"Ahh, oh well, ok, where do we talk?"

"The nearby café will do" Just as they planned this, Mugi and Mio stops and tells everyone to go on as they remembered to do something in town, which was on a different direction. Yui, Azusa and Miyu quickly send them goodbye but Ritsu gives Mio a "what's wrong" stare.

"It's just really an errand we remembered to do Ritsu"

Ritsu still doesn't believe it but just decides to let it go "Ok then, take care, you too Mugi-chan" they then went their separate ways.

At the café, Mugi and Mio seats down on a table for two at the near end just in front of the window, The café was heavily inspired by western influence that even their menu was in English, A waitress comes shortly after they seat down, she was wearing a contemporary maid uniform that is more of a Japanese design rather than American, the waitress was waiting for their order. Mugi and Mio looks at the menu and both was visibly lost in words, the two had a hard time to know what food and drinks are listed in the menu, first it was because it was all in English, second everything seemed unfamiliar, so the two of them just orders for a soda.  
Once the waitress went, Mugi initiates the talk,

"The thing about Miyu and Ricchan, Mio I know it from the first glance….." Mugi could see that Mio was concentrated on her, it was a good sign, Mio was interested

"Miyu doesn't just likes Ricchan, I could say she likes likes her but Love is really the right word"

Mugi stared at Mio through the whole sentence searching for a reaction but Mio's expression didn't change at all, she was just looking back at Mugi with a little smile close to grimace, Mugi is initially baffled by Mio's still expression, until she thought of something, Mugi waves her hand in front of Mio's eyes, No blink, no shift, not even a twitch came,

"Oh, she fainted" was what Mugi could only say.

Chapter Two End.


	3. CHAPTER III

"Omatase Shimashita" The waitress puts down the two soda's in the table,

"Would you like to order anything else?" The waitress looks at Mio, who is still at the state of faint

"No, that'll be all thank you" Mugi replies instead the waitress nods at Mugi, "Please enjoy" She tells before leaving the two.  
Mugi ignores the soda and puts her attention to Mio "Mio-chan?"  
Mio has now seemed to snap as her mouth opened, she then takes the soda and finishes it in one gulp, much to Mugi's shock,

"I guess your back now" Mio was now panting and gulping in successions, Mugi found this very disturbing and tries to calm her by giving Mio her soda, again Mio drinks the whole glass in one gulp, this is when Mugi shakes her in the shoulders

"Mio-chan, Mio-chan, calm down" Mio seems to have heard her now, she stops panting and gulping and stares at Mugi-chan, She then relaxes her body, this is when Mugi let's go of her shoulder and seats back at her chair

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it would affect you like that" Mugi apologizes to Mio who is now in a tedious position, head bowed down, whole body almost slumping and lips twitching now and then. She looked like someone overcoming the side effects of a high dosed drug.  
Mugi's eyebrows turns down and puts her hand on the table, resting her chin in her palm, her head was slightly tilted above, but her sight was leveled to Mio's

"Mio-chan, what do you feel?" Mio hears the question but doesn't answer, but Mugi's locked eye contact to her was just as good as a police handcuff, it won't unlock unless you answer her question.

"I'm shocked, of course…. And I think I'm also mad and… "

"It's a pandemonium huh?" Mugi adds

"Yeah, that's well explained, nothing just seems to stand out, it's like there are 1000 emotions playing at once in your head at the same volume, and you can't distinguish which is louder"

"I see" is Mugi's only reply " Well, I think that your just shocked and-

"I'm more than shocked, I can't believe what I just heard, Mugi…It's quite impossible for that Miyu to have a liking on Ritsu, who's a girl Like her!"

"That could happen" Mio's mouth went down to its maximum with Mugi's positively un-questioning answer.

"hmmm, not to Ritsu I think" Mio's head bows down again, Mugi wanted to say something but Mio suddenly lifts up her head again, "I've known Ritsu since we were kids, I know she isn't and won't ever be like that!"

" I, I guess so too Mio-chan" Mugi and Mio then stays quite, until Mugi said

"I think we can go home now, the sodas are already finished anyways"

"Ha! About that, I'm sorry to drink your soda too! I'll just pay for it too!"

"It's ok Mio, really no problem" But Mugi was too late, her soda was already paid in the cashier.

That Night-

At the Akiyama Residence  
Mio is sitting at her bed, still wearing her school uniform, she just sits there without any other movement as her thoughts were flying

_Love… Miyu in love with Ritsu?  
_

_Miyu in love with Ritsu, Miyu in love with Ritsu, Mio in love with Ritsu  
_

_wait... , ahh, why are our names even alike!  
_

Mio was being sucked into this too much, her head just kept repeating the words like the time with _Jealousy_ and _no.1, _ but this time it was different, way different, she's becoming more and more flustered,

_Why the hell is this bugging me?  
_

Still lost in her thoughts, Mio's mother calls for her to eat dinner.

"Ah, ok mama"

_I really need to fix these pandemonium issues of mine.  
_

Mio went downstairs and sat at the dining table, her mom and dad was also there

"ok, we can start now" her father says.  
And so, the Akiyama's eat their supper, Mio's mom notices her daughter's lack of appetite, "What's wrong Mio dear? You're not touching your food"

"Mama, what does it mean when a word completely repeats in your head? Like a song default to replay?"

"My, what an odd question, have you been experiencing it dear?" Mio's mom asks her again

"Well, no, ..it's my friend" Mio answered with a lie

_great, why did I even lie about it?_

"Words that keep repeating in your head are sometimes the words that you take most notice of or hold strong feelings to" Mio's mother explains to her

"That's right, for your head to have the effort of repeating it, then it must mean something, really important" Mio's father adds to her mother.

"I see" Mio answers in a low voice

"This is about you" Her father's gaze points at her

"it's Ritsu, she's been spending an awful lot of time with a new friend lately and-

"Your Jealous?" Mio's mother continues with an all knowing smile

"Eh, no wonder she doesn't have an appetite" Her father again adds on "Don't worry Mio, Ritsu won't replace you for a new friend, the two of you are the best of friends" Mio ignores the last thing her dad said, being more caught up with what her mom said "Mom, I'm not jealous"

"Then why are you bothered?" Mio's face turns red, "Because, because the new friend is."

"She's not a bad person, and in contrast is really friendly, beautiful and likeable"

"Wow" Mio is in awe with her mother's predicting prowess

"Honey, like what your dad said, Ritsu is always going to be your friend, even if she gets new ones, you'll always be her no.1"

_No.1_, that again, Mio remembered what she first asked which was obviously feigned a while ago.

"Papa, if the words that kept repeating in your head were kind of…i-intimate (gosh I said it), does that make you have something for the person involved?"

"Intimate, Person involve, don't tell me these is about boys?"

"No, no, never, aside from you papa, all of them are animals"

'Well then, who is involve in this intimacy?" Mio was now flabbergasted, why did the conversation become like this? She was only curious about the pandemonium and now she's being interrogated by her dad with a non-existing romance, wait just a moment…romance?

"Papa, the person involved in the intimacy, what does that make them to you?"

"I won't answer unless I'm sure it's not a boy"

"No, It's not, 100% papa, it's just something that I'm curious about." Mio said this with a forceful tone, her dad now realizes that the question was serious, there was something that was really troubling Mio.

"When your head repeats intimate things about a person, it means that your ideally in some point concerned with that person in a romantic way" Mio's dad looks at her daughter waiting for Mio to tell something, but Mio doesn't, so her father continues "In short Mio, there are only two possible answers, the first is having a crush and the second is being in love"

"But they are the same, just different in levels" Mio's mom adds

" I…I see" Mio is now blushing, she can't believe that she only had two choices, was Ritsu her crush? Or does she love her?

_I know I love her but it's as my best friend…. So why am I struggling for an answer?_

"I wish we were able to clear your mine dear, now can you eat?" Mio's mom push the plate nearer to Mio.

"Yes, It did, thank you mama, thank you papa" Mio forces a smile and starts to eat.

_No, actually it made my thoughts even hazier._

Back to her bedroom, Mio is now changing to her pajamas, she then walks to her table and takes her cellphone, she sees a message from Ritsu and quickly opens it,

Miyu confessed to me, what should I do?

Mio's lips turned down just realizing then that she was smiling

"WHAT?!" Mio shouted in horror,

_So Mugi-chan was right, but how was Miyu able to confess so fast? has she always liked girls?!_  
_I kept saying that Ritsu wasn't like that but I didn't take much notice on Miyu, I never thought she'd be what Mugi thought she was_

Mio then taps fast on her cellphone she send Ritsu a text that says to not answer yet, she then dials mugi's no. to talk this about, the ring came and in just three rings, a girl answers the phone,

"Mugi!, you were right! Miyu is- "Mio is cut short

"I know, I received a message from Ricchan"

"What?" _I thought that it was only between us_

"Actually I think she sent it to the whole club"

"Even to Sawa-chan?"

"That I'm not sure about…"

The conversation is then paused when another caller was going on Mio's line,

"I'll answer this first Mugi"

"Okay"

Mio then cuts the call and quickly the next call comes to connect

"Hello, Mio-senpai"

"Azusa, is this about Ritsu?"

"Yes, I received the message" Mio was now gripping her fist

_That jitterbug! She really did tell everyone_

"Don't worry, me and Mugi-chan will handle this"

"Yui-senpai is calling me now"

"I'm sorry Azusa please cover for Yui first"

"I'll do my best"

"Thanks"

The call ends, but the restlessness is still present, amidst all of this hullabaloo, another text message is received by Mio,  
Mio-chan, we need to talk, I'm online right now. The message was sent by Mugi.  
Mio then takes out her laptop and logs-in to the internet, Mugi is fast, as soon as Mio was logged in, Mugi instantly opens the video conversation

"Why are we making such a big fuss about this?" Mio starts the talk

"Because it's Ricchan that we're talking about, we can't leave her alone"

"I know, I know, but seriously she's not taking this, as important, she totally sent the message to everyone"

"Well yes it's just that Ricchan is not really fit for that Miyu"

_I agree_ is what Mio would say but she rather not,

"I think the better topic is helping Ritsu escape her" just after this, the internet becomes jammed, and by the time the screen comes back, Yui and Azusa are now logged in too.

"Yui-chan, Azusa-chan" Mugi says as the two comes to the screen, now the screen is divided into four panels, Mio and Yui are at the top while Mugi and Azusa are at the bottom.

"I'm sorry Mio-senpai, I tried to stop Yui-senpai"

"No, it's ok Azusa, I'm sorry for troubling you"

"Hey, everyone don't leave me out, I care about Ricchan too!"

"I'm sorry Yui, it was my idea" Mio apologizes

"Eh heh, don't worry Mio-chan I'm not mad" Yui anwers with a big smile, while raising a thumbs up

"That's great, but now that you're here, and Azusa too, what are your ideas about Ritsu's text?"

"It's surprising" Azusa answers

"I think Ricchan is just asking for opinion" Yui seems to be sure about this

"huh? Why do you think so Yui-chan?" Mugi asks her as Mio just seems off

"Well… I think that Ricchan wouldn't ask something that mushy… especially sending it to all of us"

"That's a good point to start with" Mio budges in

"Yup, don't you think so Mio-chan?" Yui nods to her

"That girl has something up her sleeve"

Just as Mio said this the four of them shifts their attention to the screen when an alert for a new caller comes in, all of them accepts it, a new panel opens in the middle of the four, and in a split second a big shiny forehead comes out.

"What is that?" Azusa yelps in a somewhat scared voice.

"It's the baka" Mio says in an annoyed tone, her face is also annoyed looking.

"Oh, hi everyone!" Ritsu's voice is heard in the line but her forehead is still the only thing in the screen

"Oh, my Ricchans forehead is communicating with us"

"Huh?! Yui what are you talking about?"

"Your foreheads blocking the whole panel!" the three others exclaim in chorus while pining their sights on the middle panel

"Oh! Is that so! …wait a minute" the panel is then seen to be adjusted until the drummers face is shown.

"Okay! Hey there guys"

"Don't hey us!" Mio scolds her

"Ricchan I thought you were having a problem" Mugi asks her

"I kind of knew that you guys would do this"

"So it was all a setup?" Azusa enters

"Eh?! So there was nothing up at all?" Yui jumped to conclusion

"Well, no, the text is true, but not all"

"What part isn't?" Mio is obviously getting tired of the get up now

"the "what do I do" part" Ritsu answers while lowering her head simply showing how scared she was of Mio, and in everyone's thought they could imagine how thankful the drummer must be that they're only talking in the computer.

"Then, you already did something before you texted that?" Mugi asks Ritsu who is still caving

"Well, I rejected her straight on"

"ah" Mugi answers,

Azusa has her mouth down while Yui smiles uncomfortably, Mio is just cracking to a menacing grim

"REJECT?" everyone shouts at the center panel

"Yeah! That's what I said!" Ritsu wails to them, unleashed now from her caving

Azusa's mouth is now back to normal and initiates the first comment "That's a mean thing to do Ritsu-senpai!"

"It'll be meaner if she didn't tell the truth" Yui contradicts Azusa

"I think, what Ricchan did had a right on it" Mugi then supports Yui's thought

The three of them then change opinions forgetting the drummer and the bassist, the latter being watched by the other.

"Mio-chan?" Ritsu tries to get Mio's attention, the others seem to notice this and stops arguing,

"If you already did something, why ask us?"

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know if what I did was right"

"You were hoping for us to also tell you to reject her?"

" No, I know none of you would suggest that"

"Then what were you hoping for?"

"That you guys would feel the burden I had when she asked me, I'm sure the first thing in your mind is to reject her too and that if you did answer something

like that, then I know what I did was right"

"Did my answer satisfy you then?" Mio voice was now shivering, like she was stopping herself to cry

"I didn't think that you'd be that dumb and cold Ritsu!"Mio logs out of the conversation,

"Ah, wait Mio!" Ritsu hopes to make her look back but the screen automatically refreshes and shifts back to a four panel.

"Mio-chan is mad" Yui breaks

"Mio-senpai" Azusa states in a worried voice

"Aghh, what's up with her?" Ritsu is clearly confused of what just happened, her panel has now replaced Mio's position a while ago, Mugi then looks at Ritsu

"I think that what Ricchan did was inconsiderate, Ricchan you made us worried over something that's done" Ritsu was now sad, she expected this sermon but not Mio's walkout, it made the situation a lot heavier

"I understand that now, I'm sorry everyone, I really am a baka"

"we can let it pass Ricchan, I kind of figured that you really have given Miyu-chan an answer already" Yui' might be really innocent but she has great assumptions sometimes

"Why'd you think so?"

"Because you like things the fast way, you won't wait for an answer that long" Ritsu slightly laughs along with everyone and comments on how well Yui has judged her.

"You should talk with Mio" Mugi advices Ritsu

"Don't worry Mugi I will, I don't like it when my queen is mad at me"

"But this issue is not over yet"

"We'll fix it some other day Yui, right now, I have a queen to ask forgiveness from"

"Ritsu-senpai makes sure to make things work"

"Roger that Azusa!"

"Good luck Ricchan, I know Mio will understand"

"Thanks Mugi, well then bye everyone" Ritsu logs out from the conversation, the panels then shift to three now, 2 above and one below.

Yui and Azusa's are besides each other at the top,

"I'll be logging out too" Mugi exclaims, she seems fantasy smiling to the two before leaving the panel, and now Yui and Azusa's panel are the only two left, in an adjacent position.

"Azu-nyan! Let's talk more"

"We still have school tomorrow Yui-senpai, we can't sleep late"

"eh"

"I'll be logging out now, bye Yui-senpai"

"I love you Azu-nyan" Before the panel vanishes, Azusa's red flamed face was evident, much to Yui's delight as she thought that the image was cute.

Back to the Akiyama Residence-

knock, knock, knock

"Mio-chan"

_Huh? Ritsu? why is she here?  
_

Mio was at the end of her bed, resting her head at inclined knees,

"What do you want?"

"Mio-chan's forgiveness"

"You're not gonna get it here"

"I can if she lets me enter"

"I won't open"

"I figured"

"Then you should leave already"

"I won't"

"You won't?"

"I know you'll have to come out there"

"I won't if I know that your there" Ritsu is now losing her calm approach and sits down, she leans her back to the door,

"Are you really that mad of me?"

"I'm not mad, I'm annoyed"

"I'm sorry Mio, I won't do something like that again, I promise" Mio doesn't answer this time, Ritsu was waiting for a reply and tried to bury her head more to the door to hear a sound when suddenly the door opens making her violently land on the floor.

"Ouch!"

"I knew you were leaning there" Mio was now standing in front, from her worm's eye view, Ritsu could see Mio's full body, for a few seconds she just stares like that, Mio's expression is puzzled until she realizes Ritsu's stare,

"Don't stare at me like that! Baka!" she then sets off to her bed, Ritsu was still in her position, she kind of snapped after a few more seconds and lifted herself to standup, she walks to Mio and sits in front of her.

"I'm sorry" She now bends to repeated bows

"I know I forgive you"

"Huh?" Ritsu stops her bows "that was fast"

Mio lifts her an eyebrow and crosses her arms "why, you don't want to?"

"No,no, Thanks Mio-chan!" She then hugs Mio, her arms wrapped around the bassist waist, while her head was in a motorboat. Ritsu was greatly enjoying her position but Mio wasn't, she has just been through a day of pandemonium's and unbelievable specks about having lingering romance to Ritsu, and now she was being hugged in this most embarrassing position,

"You're enjoying your position there aren't you?"

"I sure am" Ritsu raises her head still in between Mio's breasts. Mio furiously blushes and punches Ritsu in the head.

"You just really like to get it, don't you?"

"aheheh, I'm sorry I got carried away" Mio's heartbeat is now unsettled,

_Why can't she just hug me normally?  
_

"Well, after making up and all, I think I'll stay here for the night"  
Mio was holding her chest to feel her heartbeat and at the very moment Ritsu said that, she just lost it,

"What?!"

Chapter Three End.


	4. CHAPTER IV

Mio is still holding onto her chest and looks at Ritsu, the other girl is stumped with her long raven haired friends reaction.

"I'm not allowed to?" Ritsu leans her face a bit forward to Mio, much to Mio's faster heartbeat

"No… it's just…" Mio is struggling for an excuse

_come on brain don't fail me! Say something to make her leave! You can't have her here, not tonight!__**  
**_

"I think it's pretty awkward to just leave after patching up" Ritsu follows up seeing that Mio was just really avoiding her to stay.

"No it's not, what kind of thinking is that anyways?"

"Yes it is awkward"

"No, it isn't"

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't"

Ritsu lifts her hand and stops Mio from talking more "It is! Mio just think about it, I come here to your house, drama about outside your door, bow repeatedly and motorboat and then…. What? Say hey thanks for forgiving me, see you tomorrow"

"Yes, that's exactly it!"

"No, it's awkward, and nothing will convince me otherwise, nothing!" Ritsu's face comes closer to Mio while she shouts her point, Mio abruptly leans back to further herself from Ritsu but the hairband girl notices this and makes an effort to lean closer too, a few more leanings and Mio loses her balance, slumping head first to the floor, Ritsu falls above her from there.  
The bassist eyes were closed when she saw her friend falling along with her, she then opens it after feeling the loud forceful thump of their bodies, a word of ouch escapes form the two girls, the situation would have been under control if not for Mio noticing that Ritsu's lips are now touching the bare of her neck, Mio was now panting, she can feel it, she can sense everything of the moment, Ritsu's smell, heat, weight, and cold soft lips damp to her neck, Mio's mind was split in half now

_tell her to stand up now  
_

_no, you like this right?  
_

_tell her to stand up  
_

_she's kissing you in the neck  
_

_tell her to stand up  
_

Mio was now having pandemonium's again, but she was stronger now, she knows what's right now, she knows what she has to do now.

Mio lifts her right arm, tilting it to Ritsu's shoulder, closer her hand is reaching to Ritsu's shoulder, once her hand lands on the girl above her, she then pulls her, not away but buried to her more, Ritsu seems to be aching from the fall, she can now feel Mio burying their bodies closer, and of course Ritsu knows where her lips are just touching right now, and she comes to fully envelop this silk white neck, every push that Mio makes to her. The two of them moans as this movement continues until Mio snaps herself to stop.

_Stop now! Before Ritsu becomes suspicious _

Slowly, Mio's hand stops moving, before she puts them down, Ritsu holds her wrist and lifts her face, drool coming down from her mouth.

"Mio…what was that for?" Mio's face becomes so red, Ritsu's face was closer now, so close the tip of their noses were already touching, and Ritsu, oh, she was furiously blushing too, Mio thought of it to be so cute but she is much more focused to the drool from the drummer's mouth, unexplainably she is being turned on by it.

_I can feel that same drool dwindling at my neck; I wonder how it tastes like?"  
_

Mio's eyes are just focused on that drool; Ritsu quickly realizes this and wipes the drool all the while standing up away from Mio.

"That's it" Ritsu announces in a firm voice

_she's finally decided not to stay, phew  
_

"I'm totally staying"

"huh?!, why?"

"Because you made me want to be here more" Ritsu blinks to Mio who was now at a standing seat position. "With you" she finally adds at the end. Unlike a while ago Ritsu doesn't care about Mio's answer anymore, she goes to her best friends cabinet and starts to rampage through her clothes,

"What are you doing?" Mio yells at her

"I'm looking for something to wear, of course"

"Hey! Go home and bring your own clothes!" Mio wasn't trying to be selfish with Ritsu, she just didn't find it comfortable to know that Ritsu will be wearing her clothes while sleeping in her bedroom, especially after the neck kissing incident.  
Too bad that Ritsu doesn't seem to notice this and just continues her rampage, she takes out a very short above the knee blue shorts,

"This can do for the bottom" She lifts the shorts, but before she could put it down, Mio took it from her hand

"No way, that's one of my favorites!" Mio wasn't lying about this

"Okay, okay, I'll look for another, geez" Ritsu continues her search, Mio is now observing her from her back,

"Okay, how about this?" Ritsu lifts a sleeveless pink shirt with a strawberry print in the center.

"No, that's my favorite shirt" Mio then takes the sleeveless top from Ritsu's hand, but unlike a while ago, she was now lying about the shirt being her favorite, she just knew that she wouldn't be able to handle a sleeveless top Ritsu.

"Hah" Ritsu exclaimed, "Ok, I'll find another one" Ritsu then digs for other clothes that she could wear, choosing based on her style and whatever she thought was kind of cool, but for the next sets of clothes she lifts to Mio, all are taken away, eventually though, the cabinet loses all its contents.

"What the hell Mio, there's nothing left in your cabinet, give me something to wear already!"

"I'm sorry for being protective of my clothes, but all of them are really sentimental to me" Mio's back is now crowded with a mountain of clothes tossed there by her,

"Come on, it's impossible that all of those are your favorite" Ritsu points out at the mountain of clothes. Mio just stares at the mountain too,

"It could happen" Mio says this while having a memory when Mugi used it to her in a completely different matter.

"Tsk, Then I'll just settle for these" Ritsu smirks at a stretched garment, Mio bends her head down on Ritsu's shoulder to see the item, although after landing sight on it, Mio's Whole body went into an outrageous tint of blush.

"You baka! That's my panties! Don't hold them! At all!" Mio took her lingerie from Ritsu's stretched fingers and quickly lands the brown hair a big ounce of a punch on her head, Mio was now holding her panties while looking at the tortured Ritsu,"Are you some kind of pervert? Who does those things to their friend's lingerie?"

Ritsu was now aching, and while caressing the spot Mio hit her, she could feel a bump surfacing, "Apparently, I do, and I'm sorry for that", Mio doesn't answer, it was evident in her face how flustered she is at the moment. Ritsu then notices a pair of baggy pants and shirt at the end of the cabinet, hiding in the darkness, Ritsu unleashed the clothing. Slowly being taken outside the dark, the light pass to it showing Mio's middle school P.E. uniform

"Hey, Mio, I can settle with this" Ritsu grins, she doesn't lift the baggy P.E. unfirom anymore and quickly changes in the adjacent restroom, Mio is left there in her room, wondering what pair exactly was Ritsu going to wear, her waiting wasn't for long though, Ritsu quickly emerges showing off herself to Mio while wearing their middle schools P. .

"Huh? What the? Our old P.E. uniform?"

"Yeah, I guess that because it's stored at the very back of your cabinet, it's not one of your favorites." Mio was ready to argue more but Ritsu leaves her in the big space facing directly to the door, Ritsu then sits near the bed and fans herself with the T-shirt

"This size is really big, look at how baggy it looks at me" despite saying these Ritsu stays sitting, taking the form out of sight.

"Of course it's bigger, I'm bigger than you after all" Mio has somehow given up at this point, she is now starting to take the mountain of clothes back to their order in her cabinet, Ritsu helps her after a few seconds, while fixing the clothes arrangement, Mio is startled when Ritsu's face suddenly comes closer to her, unconsciously she closes her eyes, she waits for what happens next and there the sound of the drummers voice begins to ring in her ear, the message was a whisper, the delivery was slow, Ritsu's voice was being seductive and dominative at the same time

"By the way, The pants are tight around the crotch"

"Baka!" Mio pushes Ritsu away, who starts laughing even after falling to the floor in her butt.

"It's true you know I can feel it more when I'm stretching my feet and…"

"Stop talking like a pervert already! I get it!" Mio lightly slaps a twisted blue shirt to Ritsu's face

"Just help me get this clothes arranged and will take the futon from our guess room"

"O…okay" Ritsu answers, her face is literally dissatisfied, having a reddish glow, Ritsu holds her cheeks,

_Mio, that shirt slap just now really hurt_

Although she thinks of this, Ritsu doesn't say's it, she then resumes to helping Mio with arranging her clothes in the cabinet.

Hours later,

"I'm turning the lights off" Mio clicks the switch and the light turns off, she then walks to her bed, silently and carefully passing through the futon where Ritsu lays in now, just beside her own bed. She goes under her blankets and lays flat and straight at the bed, she places her hands above one another just below her chest and closes her eyes to sleep. The room is then swallowed into darkness and silence, and just as Mio was drifting to her dreams, a sudden tug is felt by her right arm; half asleep and half awake, Mio could only re-open her right eye to the source of tugging, but the sight became an awe to her, Ritsu was staring at her so unbelievably sweet, her eyes were watery yet clear and the shimmer was just beautiful, her smile was deep and suggestively romantic, and her bangs was sliding to her side making her look more attractive, Mio's two eyes are now open wide, she couldn't resist not to take a full look of this beauty beside her, but Mio's heart started to race, she thought it was the sight she was seeing that caused this but no, unconsciously Mio has now taken the hand that tug her and enveloped it in her own, squeezing lightly, Ritsu smiled to her

"Mio, what are you doing?" Ritsu was on her knees from the futon; her right hand is being held by Mio's left hand, while her left hand was supporting her head under her chin.

Mio blushes, not minding to not answer at all, she seemed to like the quietness of the moment and the warmth that the other hand was making her feel, but she knows it can't go on like this. She's been losing control for the past few days, and just this evening she had let herself savor such vulgar intimacies with Ritsu, a few more of these and she's sure that she won't have the right to deny that she has romantic feelings for her best friend.  
Mio lifts her left hand while still holding Ritsu's hand,

"You mean this?" Mio shakes their hands in Ritsu's sight "Just catching the culprit who disturbed my sleep, what is it anyways?"  
Ritsu once again smiles at her, she moves her hand from Mio's, much to Mio's hidden disappointment, but quickly holds it again, this time, its Mio's hands that are enveloped in hers. She squeezes Mio's hand and begins to from a sly smile before she moves fast and forcefully pushes Mio to the edge of her bed, still holding hands, Ritsu positions herself in Mio's bed, she takes the blankets and cover it above the two of them.  
Ritsu is now lying beside Mio in her bed, thanks to her beds single size; the two are now tightly compressed under the blankets.

_What the hell is Ritsu up to? It's so dark; I can't see anything … huh? What? Wait, could it be? Ritsu, I can feel her breathing, she's actually breathing at my right ear, oh God no, it's making me feel flustered!, her hand is still squeezing mine! Ritsu quit it already! I can't take this anymore!_

Mio emerges from under the blankets

_anymore of that and it's either Ritsu will notice my fast heart rate or I die of heart attack in her hands  
_

Ritsu emerges seconds after, she begins to feel worried when she see's Mio holding on to her chest and is struggling to breathe.

"Mio, are you okay?" Mio doesn't answers, Ritsu is now worried that Mio can't breathe, she then tries to calm Mio by stroking her back, which Mio finds to be comforting and starts to relax.

"Mio, are you okay?" Ritsu asks for the second time, Mio is still holding onto her chest but she isn't struggling for air anymore, she sighs and puts her hands down

"Yeah, I am, this is your fault"

"yeah, I know that, but what did I even do? I mean I just wanted to sleep with you"

"I already gave you a futon, why do you still want to sleep with me?" Mio was blushing to say this.

"Come on Mio, it's not like we've never slept together in one bed, besides, the futon you gave me is really hard on the back, I tried to endure it, but I just can't, I can't sleep with my back aching from your hard futon"

"See, I told, you it would have been better if you went home"

"Yeah, ok, it's my fault now, and look I even ruined our sleep, now we're both awake at 12 in the night and we still have classes in the morning!"  
Mio heard the guilt in Ritsu's voice and felt her chest ache; she didn't want Ritsu to feel unwelcomed. Yes, through the whole evening all she's done is to make Ritsu feel unwelcomed. She's been secretly getting flustered over and over by mere contacts and teasing of Ritsu, yet she denies all of this and does her best to make Ritsu feel unwanted, when the truth is that it's the complete opposite.

Mio lifts her hand attempting to rub Ritsu's back just as the former did a while back, when she found a better approach. She took Ritsu's head and lays it on her chest, lovingly stroking her childhood friend's short messy hair, Mio could smell Ritsu's sweet scent pressed firmly against her in a hug,

"You didn't ruin anything Ritsu, I'm sorry if I made you feel like you were at fault"

"Well, partly I am, I even woke you up" Ritsu replied, along with her arms finding its way on Mio's shoulder, it was a gesture of Ritsu hugging her back but she was pressed under Mio's chin making it hard for her hands to level on her waist.

"That's ok, I was just half asleep anyways" Mio smiled, finding it happy that Ritsu was hugging her back.

"I want to drink milk" Ritsu said, hugging tigher, Mio exclaimed a "huh" and Ritsu quickly replied

"Uhmm, you know, to help us sleep again"

"Uh, ok, I think that's a good idea" although she said this, Mio didn't expect Ritsu to be the kind who drank milk to get to sleep.

At the kitchen downstairs, Mio hands a glass of warm milk to Ritsu, who is sitting at the table; she then moves her way to sit next to friend. They both sip quietly in their glasses; neither of them seemed to be in a hurry to finish.

Mio was thinking of everything that had happened only in the short hours of the evening, she was now feeling horrid, realizing how many hints she's been giving away to her "just a friend".

_First I get all blushing with her, next I unexplainably pull her into kissing me in the neck, I got flustered of her, wearing my clothes, and was so amazed by her sleepy sight at night, but everything of this was so uncontrollable, and Ritsu might have requested for explanations, but she just let it slide too fast, could it be that she's actually having the same problems as mine? I mean, she was the one to climb to my bed, and she hugged me back real tight too…  
Am I actually hoping for this to work out?  
_

Without realizing it, Mio had already finished drinking her milk, Ritsu was passing hers to her too, Mio then takes the glasses and smiles saying that "I'll wash them", Ritsu then stretches her arms and yawns afterwards.

"Now, I know I can finally go to sleep" Ritsu exclaims happily

"yeah, I'm feeling sleepy again thanks to the milk" Mio replies emerging from the lavatory area.

"So will you let me sleep in your bed?" Ritsu is still sitting in front of the table, just stretching her body close to Mio who was standing adjacent to her.

"hmm, yeah, I wouldn't want you forcefully crawling up on your own again"  
The two of them then laughs together, but Mio quickly remembers that its midnight already so she "shhh" them to quiet, only to laugh still in a low volume.

Back to Mio's bed, the two of them are now lying together, but facing different directions. They were actually face to face but Mio jolted to the left after a few seconds, feeling flustered again, just before closing her eyes, Mio sees the silhouette of the neighbors window, and upon so, her eyes lifts open once again, she has just realized something that was very noticeable from the start, although she hasn't questioned it so much because of her secret happiness to it, Mio now understood what was really making Ritsu stay with her that night. Mio then shifts to her right finding that Ritsu opened her eyes too, Mio grabbed Ritsu's hand and asks her,

"Are you here right now because of Miyu?" Ritsu is clearly startled, her expression changes to a slight confusion.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You're here because you want to avoid Miyu" before Ritsu could answer, Mio starts to talk again

"your uncomfortable with the fact that you'll see her because she's just a window away from you in your room, aren't you?" now, before Mio could add more, Ritsu started to explain herself

"Yes, I am, for a second I thought you didn't figure it out, but well, I should have known better"

"Yes you should, you should have just laid there and acted asleep if I were you"

"Thanks for the late advice"

"Shut up Ritsu, you're in it for me" Mio comes closer to Ritsu, she tightly takes the collar of the PE uniform her friend was wearing "first you make us go stupid for a text message that you have apparently taken into your arms already and now you make me an escape Miyu shelter, even fencing up an apology? I never should have forgave you so easily"

"Wait Mio, I'm sorry, it's not what you think, I really like spending sleepovers with you, and I just found you comfortable to be with more than anyone, you're my best friend right?, so you're obviously my shelter in everything, I'll always run to you"  
Ritsu was still being collared by Mio, almost stopping to speak because of the formers tight grip on her.

"Best friends, huh? Shelter? Run to me? Well, how about me Ritsu? Don't I deserve some honesty here?"

Involuntarily Mio's grip on Ritsu becomes tighter, and she only realizes this when Ritsu squirms in a low painful groan.

"Oh, oh my God," Mio cries out, letting go of her grip " I'm sorry I didn't notice my grip" Ritsu stands in a sitting position and holds her neck while coughing, Mio then sits along her, Ritsu raises her head after her coughing was over, she was now sweating, Mio saw this but ignored it and asked if she was ok now,

"Yeah, if it saves me from more of Mio-chan's interrogation, then I am ok, peachy" Mio gives a devilish look on Ritsu, clearly not taking her bargain, she does however calms the then situation.

"Nothing in this world right now can stop my interrogation, so spit out Ritsu, you can't escape now"

"Oh, sheesh, Ok, but just because you're my best friend"

"Your not planning to tell the others in the K-on club?"

"It'll be better that way"

"Na-ah, if you tell me, you tell them or I'll tell them"

"What?, …" Ritsu is using a pleading tone

"W-hat?" While Mio is using a I-don't-care-and-teasing tone

"Ok, I give up, fine we can tell them"

"You should've just been honest from the start"

"Yeah, I'll surely do that next time" Ritsu then proceeds to her story, " Miyu went to my house in the morning, my room was messy so I couldn't let her in, we talked in the living room when I was beginning to notice her sudden shyness, she asked me to talk somewhere else and we went to the open park nearby, after briefly getting there she suddenly held my right hand with both her hands, she bowed her head, and said that she's never had the intention of being my friend, I questioned her after but she directly told me that she's always been a lesbian, and that she's had her eyes to dating me from the start"

"I see" was the only thing Mio could answer, but she had more thoughts she couldn't exactly voice out.

_Mugi was always right about her assumptions, Miyu did love Ritsu, and now that I've heard the story, I don't really know what to say, I definitely can't support Miyu, yet I also don't want to make Ritsu feel that she's obliged to think twice, God, I don't know what to say!  
_

"It's funny, you know" Ritsu is suddenly talking again, she places her hands on the back of her neck and lays down in the bed, Mio was still sitting and looks at Ritsu,

"What is?" Mio asks who was now facing in front of Ritsu.

"Just because of some crush and confessions, you, me, and the others have already been in an uproar"

Ritsu laughs after "And to think that I'd be the first one to experience it, and with a girl too!" Ritsu laughs more. Mio on the other hand understands Ritsu's point, more seriously than the latter. No one would have expected Ritsu to be the first person to have a romantic relationship in the club, and most specifically a girl to girl relationship. Although Ritsu is the boyish, outgoing type she really hasn't shown anything of homosexual attraction, and being a noisy, hyper-active, randomly irresponsible and childish girl, it is seldom debated if she could ever have a boyfriend who could out energize her. Well, not for the next years in high school that is.

"Hey, everyone has their share of unexpectedness, and yours just went overboard" Mio dishonestly answers

_I know I can comfort her more, I could even tell her that hey, at least your being hit on by a lesbian, what would you feel if you were in my position? Constantly having pandemonium's and yearning for your "girl" friend in the most intimate ways, having Sapphic pleasures with touchy and holding contacts, your still at the lucky side of things, so just be thankful and cheer upbaka!_

"Yeah, I highly agree with that" Ritsu seems to be cheered up though even without hearing Mio's thoughts. "How about you, Mio? Will you fall in love with a girl if given the chance?"

Mio was stroked hard with this question, she knows what she's been feeling lately and truth be told, she knows what it means, and that she's just scared to accept it. Mio knows she has feelings for Ritsu that are more than friends but she denies it.

_How was this question brought forward? And why is it Ritsu asking me, out of all the people?_

Mio was pondering over the odds of the situation, yet in split seconds after Ritsu asks her, a dominative smile creeps into Mio's mouth, locking eye contact with Ritsu, who was now a bit scared of Mio's prideful smile,

_I don't know if this is faith, destiny or a joke, but if your handing me a door then I'm going to knock hard on it_

Mio then exclaims in the most honest and prideful tone she could puff, an answer that will throw a lot of barriers that stood between her and her feelings for Ritsu away.

"Absolutely, and you might be the only girl"

Chapter four End.


	5. CHAPTER V

The school bell was ringing ever so loud and the students of Sakuragaoka were now filing inside of their classrooms, sitting down in their respective seats, everyone was very lively and happy, it was a really fine day and everything seemed to run like usual except for one, no, maybe two things inside the class  
of 3 – 2. Mugi has been the only one to notice this, but Mio and Ritsu seemed really tired and sleepy ever since they got to school, the teacher hasn't arrived yet and Mugi thought that this was a good chance to talk with Yui who was idly singing in her seat, she slowly comes close to Yui from her right not wanting to startle the girl as she was easily startled like Mio.

From the mirror that the window was providing Yui, she noticed Mugi walking towards her, she continues singing while facing Mugi, only stopping to greet her

"Ohayou Mugi-chan, is something up?"

Mugi smiles warmly at her and answers her greeting, "Good morning too Yui, I was just checking if you've noticed how tired Ritsu and Mio look like" Yui then looks alternatively between Ritsu and Mio. First at Mio, her hair was not in its best case of combing, it was actually very curly at the ends and her bangs was unevenly distributed, the area below her eyes were black and almost swelling. Another notable thing Yui noticed was that she was staring on something to which Yui's eyes seemed to follow, and her sight lands on Ritsu. Ritsu is scratching her head, and to Yui's surprise, Ricchan was not wearing a headband, her bangs was tied by a red rubber band, like Mio, a black swelling area could be observed under her eye, but she looked a lot more tired than Mio is, also she doesn't seem to know that the very girl was staring at her.  
Mugi's head is placed just above Yui, looking at the same view,

"Mio-chan has been staring at Ricchan for a long time now" Mugi states a matter- of-fact, she was also starring at Mio, somehow trying to read the girls expression.

_Why is Mio-chan just staring at Ritsu? Did Ricchan made things worst between them?_

"I think Mio-chan wants to say something to Ricchan, that why she's looking at her" Yui says to Mugi, taking her sight out of Mio and Ritsu.

"Indeed she has" Mugi was still intently looking at Mio, she then shifts her attention to Yui, "I'll ask her later, and Yui-chan will ask Ricchan, is that ok?"

"Don't worry Mugi-chan, I'll be on it" Yui's eyes close slightly as she smiles. Mugi then smiles at her too, and leaves to go to her seat. The class then starts. For the firt 4 subjects Mugi couldn't help but to observe Mio and Ritsu, Mio was still looking at Ritsu and by the 3rd period, Ritsu has seemed to catch up with the staring. She caught Mio staring at her and the two seemed to blush and slowly ignore what just happened. By the 4th period, the glaces became an awkward event, Mugi was still staring at Mio who was now looking at her notes, when a minute passed like this Mugi stopped staring, but before her eyes could move Mio catches her, Mugi is then left with having to explain herself but Mio just shrugged it, and looked back to her notes, she then realizes that Yui was also staring at her, but as soon she looks to confirm it, Yui's eyes were focused on someone else's now, Mio travelled the direction of Yui's head only to land where she first started, she was then again staring at Ritsu, who by this time was having a cold shiver in her back, feeling the targeted sights at her, she then moves her upper body to look behind her and instantly catches three eyes that were preying on her. Mio, Mugi and Yui are all caught at the crime scene, and there's nothing they could do but to look away and act indifferently. By the time lunch break came, Mio was leaving the classroom when she saw Miyu coming inside, the latter just passes by her, Mio is initially cracked with a guilty, hurtful expression, which Mugi noticed and wanted the reason to. She walks to Mio's side and holds her shoulder,

"Mio-chan, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing Mugi, I just don't feel well" If someone else had heard Mio say this they would just back off even if they knew she was lying, but Mugi was wanted to know what was so forlorn. She tells Yui that she'll just accompany Mio to the canteen, she secretly points at Ritsu and puts a thumbs up on Yui, making her remember their agreement in the morning. Yui happily nods up and down, understanding Mugi's gesture.

"Okay then let's go get something" Mugi holds Mio's wrist and pulls her to the corridors, but she doesn't drag her to the canteen like she said, instead she drags Mio to an empty room at the lower floor.

"I've been watching you since morning Mio, and you've been intently staring at Ricchan all the time, yet neither of you are approaching each other, did Ritsu make things worse when she apologized to you?  
Mio wasn't moving but she did answer "No" in such a low voice, audible enough for Mugi to hear.

"No…?" Mugi interpreted in an excited confused way.

"No, Ritsu made everything fine; I was the one who ruined things"

"Ruined how Mio?"

Mio was now speechless again, without saying anything further, she pulls her wrist from Mugi's hand and walks to the door, she slowly opens it, but before she could walk out, she then closes the door again, she is still holding the handle, she spins around and faces Mugi who was still in their last position.

"Ritsu…, I " Mio was stammering but she continues anyways, "I kind of confessed my more than a friends feeling to her, and she took it as a statement, and I don't know what went through me cause I forced her to believe it and now I feel awkward about her presence"

"More than a friends feeling?" Mugi questioned, her mouth almost drop with shock, her hands were opened as if she was carrying a big weight on them

"A-ha" Mio answers

Mugi then looks down at the floor and stares up again, she walks closely to Mio and pulls her away from the door, Mio's face was still looking down, Mugi patted her in the shoulder

"Mio, why didn't you tell any of us?"

"Because" Mio's face was still looking down "I wasn't sure myself, I kept denying it"

"Are you sure now?" Mugi was also bowing her head, but even so she could only see Mio's bangs cascade down.

"I…" Mio raises her face for the first time, tears evidently building up in her eyes,

"I'am, I'amMugi….but..I don't know what to do with them" With these heartfelt sentence, Mugi envelopes Mio in a hug of comfort, she calm's the now crying Mio

"Mio-chan, I'm glad you didn't deny it until the end, I never would have thought of this myself"  
Sobbing "Why? Is it so impossible for me and Ritsu?"  
Mugi strokes Mio's back lightly "No, no, the thing is I've always seen it, but Ritsu is oblivious of her feelings while I thought you would always deny everything"

"I really should have just denied everything" sobbing "But, I couldn't, I was getting jealous, it was painful to see her getting moved on by Miyu, it drove me to the edge to have cravings for Ritsu, I want her so badly, it made my heart ache when I had to suppress it"  
Mugi didn't say anything after that, she just patted Mio until the other stopped crying, when no sobbing was audible anymore and the tears in her blazer have seem to cease falling, Mugi pulled Mio in front of her,

"Mio-chan" she holds on Mio's shoulders "Now that you've come out, you just need to make Ricchan yours, right" Mugi was now smiling, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"But Miyu also likes her, and she's confessed to her too"

"Then Miyu is your rival with Ricchan, may the best girl win"

"I don't know Mugi, I feel guilty, I confessed to Ricchan the same day she rejected Miyu" Mugi is now having a hard time to fix the mood, she's being very careful to choose the right words in this kind of situation.

"Did Ricchan accept you?"

"She didn't give me an answer; she left the house at four in the morning"

"That's why you've been staring at her?"

"I was wondering if she meant to reject me in that way, but I couldn't force myself to ask her" Just about the time that Mugi was going to answer her, the school bell rang, the two of them had to hurry up to their room now.

After school,

Ritsu is standing up from her seat when Miyu comes close to her, at a short distance away, Mio was fast to see the moment, she was curious to know what the two were taking about. The conversation lasted only for a minute, the two bow each other's head and Ritsu begins to walk away, after reaching the door, Ritsu looks to her right, immediately catching eyes with Mio, the two of them blush in duet and look away as fast as they lock sights. Ritsu then continues to exit from the classroom. Miyu has seen the whole thing, and was showing a bad expression at Mio who then getting to leave herself, Miyu then exits the classroom too.  
At the club room, everyone was seated at the tea table having their afternoon's meal, Yui was happily feeding Azusa with a cake while the latter was busy looking at some score sheets, Sawako sensei was doing nothing but to enjoy her own cake and tea, especially that this day seemed to be, one of the few days where everyone was quiet. Yes, no one was talking, everyone knew that something was awry, the atmosphere seemed awkward to produce any sound, and only Yui and Azusa were really interacting.  
Mio, Mugi, Ritsu and Miyu were all silent; none of them were also looking at each other.  
Sawako sensei found the that too much silence with these girls were worser than the noise they make, she finishes eating her cake and sips her tea,

"Do you girls plan to practice today?" Sawako sensei finally breaks the awkward silence. No one answers for a moment, until Azusa felt that she needed to be in charge if Mugi and Mio aren't deciding, "Yes, we will Sensei, I'm just finishing this score sheets for the music"

"Very well then" Sawako stands up and walks to the door "I still have a meeting, I'll leave you girls now"

Yui and Azusa cheerfully greet her bye while the other seemed to be gloomy.  
Sawako dismisses this and leaves, on her way down the stairs she says to herself that "those girls are having a problem now, and if things don't go right I'd need to help them then"  
she then stops walking and looks back at the club room door "And I thought being their adviser would be easy" she then sighs and leave's continually.

Back at the club room, Azusa was feeling uneasy to make her club mates practice, although she just wanted to answer Sawako sensei's inquiry a while ago, she was also hoping for them to practice the notes she's been correcting. Mugi knew how awkward the situation was running and tried her best to back up Azusa. No one was really against practice and so they arranged their instruments, they began playing when Yui, Azusa and Mugi could sense that Ritsu, Mio and Miyu were really not in the mood to practice. Seeing this Azusa also lost interest in practicing, Yui was kind of sad about this so she just ask if they could go home now, and everyone was just happy to agree.  
Miyu went out first saying that she had something to do, and everyone followed out minutes later, Yui and Azusa could now see that the awkward atmosphere was coming from Mio and Ritsu, they are clearly avoiding each other. At the separation lane, Mio and Ritsu were walking far away from each other until they reached Ritsu's house. Once Ritsu was inside her house, a shadow from the near post lamp came into sight, the shadow started to follow Mio who was walking alone now. The shadow stretches her right hand and holds onto Mio's shoulder, much to the shock of the latter, Mio twitched with the contact and quickly took the handoff of her shoulder and face behind to see the owner, there Mio sees someone who she's wished to not see for the whole day.  
Miyu was standing there; she still has the school uniform on, Mio was now worried to what Miyu might want from her. Miyu smiled at Mio

"I'm sorry if I startled you, I just wanted to ask something"

_here it is she's going to confront me about Ritsu_

Mio was now reluctant to stay, she knows that it'll be a bad idea, especially if Miyu is going to ask something related to Ritsu.

"Uh, uhmm, I'm sorry too, I'm busy right now" Mio is now nervously walking, no; it was like she was almost running. She felt relieved that Miyu wasn't stopping her or holding her back, she was so far from Miyu now and she just had the hunch to look back, Miyu was still standing there, and she was looking straight at Mio's position. The stare she gave was cold and creepy, Mio was now feeling frightened, this meant war. Even if Mio leaves now, she knows that she can't escape Miyu forever, and that sooner or later, the other girl will discover her own goal to take Ritsu. Mio's expression was worried and scared but she straightened herself, her eyes became sharp and her lips curve to form a fearless smile, she walk back slowly, Miyu was now smiling too, thinking that she got her prey. Once that their distance are just a footstep away, Mio and Miyu looks at each other's eyes, their long black raven hairs were being swept by the wind, and both were giving the most hostile look they could show.  
Mio smiles wider now and begins the commemoration for their official rivalry

"The thing you wanted to ask me"

"It's about Ritsu, I think you know that" Miyu's eyes are now sharper

"I Love Ritsu"

Miyu's left eyebrow raises "Then tell her"

"I have" Mio lifts her left eyebrow too

"Did she accept it?"

"No"

Neither of them makes an expression, Mio begins to lose her stiff now, seeing that Miyu has nothing to say

"No, Ritsu didn't accept" Mio starts to talk again, "yet" she drops neatly at the end.

Miyu is now laughing sarcastically "And she will never, I'll have her before she has the answer"

Mio was now annoyed, she wasn't the type to throw insults and ill words at anyone, especially with a someone she wasn't close to. She was thinking of backing out now, but she had to have the last word

"Well then, May the best girl win" At the drop of this, Mio smiles confidently and sharp at Miyu, and leaves without looking back anymore.

Chapter Five End.


	6. CHAPTER VI

Mio has gotten home, her mom greets her at the door and asks her to dinner, but Mio just quickly went upstairs to her room, saying that she had something important to do. As soon as she enters her bedroom, she locks the door behind her and sits at the floor; she was now holding onto her chest, her heart was thumping loud.  
Swallowing with anxiety Mio tried to calm herself,

_Oh my God, I just dashed at Miyu, and I actually lied too, well it's not a complete lie, I did confess to Ritsu, but I didn't directly say I love her.  
_

Mio stands up from the floor, she is still holding onto her chest and takes a look at the bed at the end of her room, and she remembered how her untimely confession was delivered out of the blue.

"How about you, Mio? Will you fall in love with a girl if given the chance?" Ritsu asks while she laid in the bed with her hands at the back of her neck, she was now scolding her inner self for asking such a dumb question, she had no doubt that Mio wasn't going to answer yes, but shock soon overcomes her as she hears not only a yes, but an "Absolutely, and you might be the only girl" answer.  
The happy go lucky drummer is dumfounded with her friend, but she soon comes to conclude that this is only a statement, a joke that Mio had thrown at her to keep quiet. She then laughs and tells that she gets it now, she'll shut up and just sleep, Ritsu then takes her hands off the back of her neck and crawls herself under the blankets, but Mio takes the blankets off and yells at her.

"I'm not joking Ritsu!" Mio's face was blushing so red and Ritsu noticed this, feeling a warm blush coming on her own cheeks, she didn't know what to do, Ritsu wasn't in the mood to reject another one within 24 hours, and hell all, it was Mio. She couldn't reject Mio.  
Mio's hands were tightly holding the blankets and it was evident that she was shaking, why she was shaking was all vague to Ritsu, she didn't know if Mio was mad, sad, or nervous, but it was probably shyness, because never would Ritsu imagine Mio to confess to someone, and most especially to her. A long silence is eating the two of them now, and all Ritsu could think about is what was wrong with Mio, she then comes close to Mio and tries to hold her shoulder, but she saw how Mio was sobbing lightly now, she then swipe the bangs that covered her best friends bowed face, and slowly lifted her head whilst holding her face.

"Ritsu, I really do like you, more than how a friend should" Ritsu was just staring at her friend, she was obviously trying to think of a good answer, but she couldn't think of one, she just looked behind her and saw the analog clock blink 4:00 am, she then looks back at Mio, she is still holding the long haired girl's face.

"Well, will you look at the time" Ritsu removes her hand from Mio's face, "I'm really stupid to not bring my uniform, so I have to go now, bye then" with this, Ritsu leaves the room.

Mio is left at the bed, the blankets are scattered through her thighs, she hears the click of the gate seconds later and starts to let her tears roll down, she then sits at the edge of her bed in the dark room until shards of sunlight come through her window.

Mio was now changing into her pajamas, she was feeling really down and weak, and she has just realized now that she hasn't eaten anything since morning, she then decides to come down and take dinner, she walking at the flight of stairs when the doorbell rang, two rings rang when Mrs. Akiyama surfaced from the living room, she was drying her hands in her apron, apparently she must have been washing some dishes. Mrs. Akiyama opens the door and finds Ritsu standing outside, Mio's eyes opens wide

_Ritsu? What's she doing here?  
_

"Oh, Ricchan! You were just here yesterday, are you going to sleep over again?" Mrs. Akiyama happily inquires the short girl in front of her steps who was now welcomed inside the house.

"Thank you Mrs. Akiyama, but I'm only here to give back Mio's clothes" Ritsu raises the brown bag she was carrying; she was blushing a little when she noticed Mio in the stairs.

_Ah, it must be my PE uniform she went home with this morning  
_

"I see" Mrs. Akiyama takes the brown bag from Ritsu "Will you stay for dinner then?"

"ah, well…" Before Ritsu could finish, Mrs. Akiyama began to persuade her, and since she honestly answered that she hasn't had dinner yet, Mrs. Akiyama has started to drag her to the dining room. Mio follows on in a brief. She see's Ritsu sitting at the head chair from the right, and so she takes the head chair at the left. Mio's mother came out with a pot of steamy beef stew, she noticed the girls were too far from each other and asked Mio to sit next to Ritsu.

"Mio, dear, please sit next to Ritsu" Mio was blushing, it was awkward to sit next to Ritsu right now, but she can't tell this to her mom

"I'm fine here mom" Mio answers with a big smile

"Well, yes you are dear, but I plan to wash less so I 'am giving the two of you a whole pot, and if you're this far from each other then it would be hard for the both of you to share"

"I'll wash the dishes then" Mio suggests so surely. Mrs. Akiyama would have been fine with this but it made her curious why the two best of friends didn't want to sit next to each other. "Is there a problem with you two? Are you avoiding each other?"

"Huh, no, It's nothing" Mio is trying hard to hide the situation, she is then looking at Ritsu for help, at the first contact of their eyes, they seemed to have blushed slightly, Ritsu then nods to Mio

"It's ok Mrs. Akiyama"

_finally, Ritsu will surely change the topic_

"Mio-chan and I are just playing with you, but don't be mad, I'll just seat next to Mio-chan now"

Ritsu's teasing was surreal and happy, she then moves to the chair directly adjacent to Mio, they then awkwardly smile at each other. Mio asks her mom to eat along but Mrs. Akiyama said that she's finished along with her dad, and so only Mio and Ritsu eat dinner together, only looking at their food until they finished.

Minutes later,

Ritsu was now tapping her shoes to the pavement, getting ready to leave; Mio appears from her back, without facing each other Mio starts to talk.

"You didn't have to return the clothes so quick"

"I needed an excuse to see you" Mio was now surprised, _could she be planning in rejecting me now?_

Ritsu breathes deeply first and suddenly faces Mio "Mio, can we meet tomorrow after school?"

"Whe..where do you want us to meet?" Mio was slightly stammering, clearly nervous

"Whatever random place…" Ritsu answers, a blush slowly forming in her cheeks "as long as we'll be alone" Mio was now blushing too

_Ritsu's blushing, how cute..._

"yeah, whatever random place" the two of them exchange smiles, Ritsu then walks out of the gates, Mio was still following her in the back and quickly took her hand before promptly leaving, Ritsu looks back, Mio was smiling widely with blush still evident in her cheeks "take care"

Ritsu smiled wide too "Roger"

With that done, Mio hops happily back inside her house, when she got to her bedroom, she sat at her bed and repeated the scene inside her head, she falls back on her bed and starts to realize Ritsu's scent the other night

_Mio, you might really have a chance!_

Mio excitedly thought, now tossing and turning while hugging her Ritsu scented blankets.

The next day at school -

Ritsu and Mio greeted each other good morning, they still didn't go to school together, although things were milder, there was still a present awkwardness.  
Miyu was at the window close by, and she saw how the two warmly exchanged greetings, she handed an emotionless yet annoying expression to Mio who just bowed her head. Miyu then went to her seat and greeted Ritsu too, being the nice person Ritsu is, she greeted back, but her smile a while ago with Mio was different from her smile now. It was formal and friendly, not warm and fuzzy.

The class then begins, yes, a very normal day is yet progressing when suddenly loud footsteps could be heard from the hallways, the student of 3 – 2 ignored this for a while but the footsteps were closing in on them, faint voices were also arising, those who were seated near the front row could hear that the voices were stopping the footsteps to continue walking, but nothing made it stop. The front door of the classroom opens abruptly, a tall, slender, middle-aged lady wearing a cliché office uniform, and has black hair tied tightly upwards came into the classroom with a sour and stern expression. Everyone was looking at the visitor who has just barged in to their room; The teacher of that time was now asking the Lady what she needed, but the Lady ignored the teacher and went to pursue her purpose, she was angrily looking at one particular student who was sitting just beside Ritsu. The girl being angrily looked at knew from the opening of the door that it was her mother who has come to pass judgment on her.  
Miyu was grief stricken to recognize her mother; she was sweating nervously and shaking with fear, within seconds of marching her mother had a hold of her in the right arm and quickly drags her out of her seat, the students of the classroom then begin to protest to the Lady. The teacher was now scolding the Lady that harming of students cannot be done there and just a few seconds later, other teachers came inside the classroom. The lady was now irritated,

"This girl here is my daughter, and I have every right to do what I wish" Her grip was evidently getting tighter and poor Miyu was already twitching with pain,

"I believe it would be better if we talk at the office, there are students here who are studying, Mam" Sawako sensei calmly talks to the parent.

"Are you the adviser of Miyu?" The lady has let go of her grip on her daughter now and was talking less angrily, realizing that she was in a classroom,  
Sawako sensei comes closer to the parent, "Yes, I 'am the adviser of this class, and if there is a problem with Miyu, then I will gladly talk with you at the office"  
The mother is looking bitterly at Sawako sensei and her daughter, she then agrees and tells Sawako to lead the way to her office.  
The other teachers leave one by one and the commotion has died down, but 3 – 2 was like a bee hive now, the girls are buzzing with comments and questions, and even their teacher decided to discontinue the lesson, seeing her students were now in another planet.  
Later on at the club room, the four seniors were still talking about what had happened in the afternoon, Azusa was now being filled with the events and was clearly feeling worry and pity for her new senpai,

"I hope Miyu-senpai is alright" Azusa expresses with worry in her voice, Ritsu smiles at her kouhai and patts her head lightly "Hai, we all do"

"I wonder why her mother was so mad" Mio wonders aloud while she seated in front of the two,  
Mugi was now putting down their cups of tea, the other four were still talking and Yui was wondering why Mugi was quiet since what happened.

"Ne, Mugi-chan, you've been really quiet now" Yui finally asks after Mugi sits down in front of her, Mugi sips her tea before answering Yui "Well, I think I know the reason why Miyu's mom went to school very mad"  
Everyone then looked at Mugi, almost standing up at once, they shouted in chorus

"Why didn't you tell us?" Mugi was still sitting down and looked sad to have kept a secret from her friends "I was having double thoughts, I wanted to be sure first" Mio, being the nearest at her side tilts her head closer to Mugi "Sure of what Mugi?"

Just when Mugi was about to tell them, the club room door opens, the girls attention shifts to it, they were afraid that it might be Miyu, but they all sighed in relief when they saw Sawako sensei enter.

"Sawako sensei" Azusa exclaims happily,

"Sawako sensei what happened to Miyu?" Mio was the first to ask  
Sawako walked close to them first before answering her student "Well, the whole things a mess, and her mother's dropping her out"

"What?" Ritsu yells

Sawako fixes the position of her glasses "It turns out that she forged her enrollment to her parents, she told her parents that she was attending a coed school and made her aunt believe her"

"Forged the enrollment?" Azusa curiously notions "Why would she forge her enrollment?" Sawako was now sighing, she pulls the head chair below her and sits down "I don't know if I should share this to you girls, it's kind of personal"  
The club members were then silent, yes, they wanted to know what was happening, but were they that desperate?, if sharing to them the reason would violate Miyu's personal life, were they even allowed to know the truth?  
Mugi then stepped out of her thinking, "I know the reason, and I will share it"  
Sawako sensei looked at Mugi "You do?"  
Mugi nods "Yes, apparently, I knew Miyu before she transferred here"  
Ritsu is now confused, "She's never talked about you"

"Well, yes, because, I know Miyu but she doesn't know me"  
all of them are then speechless, silently the five girls and Sawako sensei seat their selves properly, and without any notion, Mugi starts to tell her story, not looking at anyone but at her hands.

"Miyu-chan's old school, which she never talked about to anyone, was also an all girl's school,  
one of the most prestigious in the north district at the other side of town. I got to know Miyu because her school was behind my middle school back then; she was always the talk of many due to her beauty and brains, rumors about her spread a long way even to our campus. She was like a celebrity in the area, after graduating middle school; I heard from my classmates that she continued her high school at the same campus, and that she was repeatedly rumored to having many romantic exploits with her classmates and schoolmates, that's the last I've heard, and just after a year I was surprised to see her transfer in here. I felt annoyed of her, I knew from the start that she was lying about many things, I've never heard one rumor of her being in a band, and I knew that like her harem in her old school, she'd do it again here, and I hated it more when I realized that Ritsu was the first one she wanted to victimize!"  
Mugi was clearly mad now; she was hiding all of this while everyone was naïvely getting along with Miyu.

Mio was also mad but she was having many questions of her own, "So, Miyu was suppose to transfer to a coed school, because of her harem record with the girls in her old school?"

"Probably yes, I can't be sure, but it must be a part"

"Well, you're not very much mistaken Mugi" Sawako assures the girl "It'll be good if you girls talk to her"

"We can go to her house now" Ritsu suggests

"What if her mother's still there? She's a scary woman you now" Yui face was getting terrified with the thought

"Well, there's five of us and one of her, besides I don't think she'll harm us out of the blue"

"She might scold us hard and loud" Mio mixes in, getting terrified too, "Just remembering her scream gives me goose bumps"

"Oh come on Mio, Yui, I was seating next to Miyu when that Lady started screaming, she's not that bad, she was just really really really angry"

"And you're really really really really trying to convince us" Mio answers her

"Yes ! I 'am! She's a member of the club and a classmate, and my neighbor, don't you guys care about her?"

"Of course we care Ricchan! But what will we do after Miyu-chan tells us her story?"

"We help her talk to her mother"

"I don't like the sound of that" Mugi comes into the conversation

"Ok, we won't but I just think there's more to Miyu than what Mugi has heard and what Sawa-chan isn't telling" Trying hard to convince them, Mio couldn't resist to back her up now, she was still thinking of the scary woman and she was a bit jealous that Ritsu was caring too much for Miyu but she can't resist her baka.

_Oh, Ritsu, the things I do for you_

"Yeah, Ritsu's right!" Mio yells, the others then look at her "Miyu-chan has only been here for a short time, but Ritsu was the closest to her, and if this drumhead says we help her, then we will"

"Mio" Ritsu smiles with watery eyes at her child hood friend

"Lead the way Buchou" Mio smiles at everyone. Ritsu nods "Ikuzu!" the auburn hair girl shouts as she raises her right hand in the air.

After leaving the club room, Sawako is left alone in the table; she is happily smiling at the void door to where the members have just left. She then stands up and looks around the room, at a cabinet in her right side, Sawako sensei see's the ivory teapot where Mugi's delightful teas are always pouring, "There you are, come to mama" Sawako says aloud in the empty room, She happily takes the Teapot and a cup from the cabinet and goes back to her seat. She puts down the cup and slowly tilts the teapot above, excited to smell the fragrance of the tea and relax in quietness, Sawako is slowly feeling stupid as she realizes that the teapot has nothing to pour. Sawako's face goes from cheerful to annoyed, she opens the teapots lead and finds almost to none amount of tea, her mouth then goes down in a growl, she lifts the teapot above her mouth and shakes it up and down to drop its little contents. Only one droplet falls to Sawako's tongue and nothing more. Sawako lays the pot down and puts back its lead, she then makes her way out, with a bread in her mouth, "I haven't had lunch yet too" Sawako sighs and leaves the club room disappointed.

Chapter Six End.


	7. CHAPTER VII

"Hello?" "Hello?" Ritsu was repeatedly knocking in Miyu's gate

"Maybe her mother took her someplace else" Azusa suggested

"We won't see her anymore, and we couldn't even say good bye properly" all of them knew how sad Ritsu was saying this

"Maybe she'll come visit us sometime Ricchan" Yui happily holds onto Ritsu's hand

"Yeah, I mean, I'm sure she'll come to visit you" Mio adds on, completely giving the subtext of Miyu's feelings for Ritsu, no one says anything though, Mugi then says that they'll go home now and if Miyu does come home there, they're sure that Ritsu will talk to her.  
Azusa, Yui and Mugi are then leaving to go home. Ritsu and Mio are left standing outside Miyu's gate.

"I'll be going home now too Ritsu, you should too"

"Yeah, I could wait for her from my bedroom"

"Okay then, bye" Mio walked off thinking. _she's completely forgotten about our talk_

At the Tainaka Residence

Ritsu was waiting in front of her window for any sign of Miyu coming home, it was now 7:30 pm at her analog clock and Ritsu was already tired of waiting, she thought of resting for a moment and went to her bed to lay down, like how she laid on Mio's bed, she was then again supporting her neck with her hands.  
Sighing,

_Mio must have forgotten our talk, I wanted to talk with her still, but after what happened I'm sure Mio wouldn't be in the mood anymore  
_

Ritsu takes her cell phone from her drawer and clicks to her photos, a considerable amount were those of Mio,

_strangers, friends, close friends, best friends. They said that after being best friends the next level is being lovers, but Mio and I are both girls…. Mio….  
_

Ritsu was blushing now; a big screen cap of Mio's face was all she was looking at. She was feeling warm and fuzzy inside when a sudden loud knock came to her door, The ditsy girl lose hold of her cell phone, unfortunately it drop straight to her face, the screen falls into her face lower part, from nose to lips, Ritsu was now so flustered as Mio's lips in the picture fell into hers, she quickly stands up and takes the phone out of her mouth, she then opens the door, her mom was standing outside, "Mom, what is it?" Ritsu asks her mom in a stern voice.

"Oh, Miyu-chan's here to see you"

"Miyu?" Ritsu's eyes go wide

"Yes, Miyu, our neighbor, she said she had something to tell you"

"Ok " Ritsu goes to change clothes "Mom, tell her I'll be down quick"

"Ok, then" Her mom slowly closes the door but momentarily stops "Oh and Ritsu…"

"Yeah, Mom?" Ritsu answers quite annoyed while putting on her t-shirt

"Your face is red, do you feel sick?" Ritsu stopped moving but resumed after a few seconds, "No, mom, I'm not feeling sick"  
She was now heading to the stairs when her mother closed her bedroom door and teased Ritsu at the stairs

"Then I guess you were blushing"

Ritsu is then blushing more as she yells "Mom!"

Mrs. Tainaka ignores her and laughs as she flights down the stairs, she passes the living room, and informs Miyu who was sitting at the sofa that Ritsu, was on her way down now.

At the nearby park-

Ritsu and Miyu were sitting at the swings, "Mugi told us, about the things she's heard about you at your old school" Ritsu was looking at Miyu who wasn't answering and was just sliding her feet in the ground making her swing sway left and right.

"Miyu, was it true that you had a harem at your old school?" The question was straightforward and harsh, but this is what Ritsu knew she needed to say, in order to get Miyu's attention. The long black haired girl stops the swing from moving and looks at Ritsu quite hostile, this made Ritsu scared but she wasn't going to chicken up now, "I would never do that! It's those bottom feeding vultures that kept ruining my life who said that!"

"Bottom feeding vultures?" Ritsu inquired

"My classmates and schoolmates Ritsu, they're the ones who spread those rumors"

"Why would they spread that Miyu? And everyone just believed it?"

"They were Jealous of something that I had, and they weren't just making rumors Ritsu, they tried their best to drag me, to situations where they knew I couldn't deny those rumors"

"What were they jealous of?"

"It's a long story" Miyu was now standing up from the swing but Ritsu grabbed her hand

"And we have a long night Miyu" Miyu's tears began to flow now, seeing this, Ritsu felt guilty for stopping her, she lets go of Miyu's hand and apologizes, only to be hugged by the girl. Miyu was hugging Ritsu tightly as she cried on the drummers shoulder

"Oh, Ricchan! If only I could have fought for her! It was all my fault, I was so weak!" Ritsu is oblivious to who Miyu was talking about and all she could do was to pat the girls head and comfort her.

The next day Ritsu explains to the others what happened last night, and Ritsu assured them that Miyu will sneak inside the club room later after class, Ritsu was able to make Miyu promise to tell the other club members about the truth, everyone was now excited.  
Mio and Ritsu talked at the classroom on lunch time after eating,

"I knew she'd come to you" Mio told Ritsu confidently

"Ahehe, yeah, I was surprised when my mom told me she was at the house"

"I could feel that she wouldn't leave without talking to you, I mean she likes you right"

"Yeah, she does" Ritsu smiles with worry, she thought about Miyu's screams, how the beautiful red blazing eyed girl was regretting to have let go of someone.

"But I think Miyu has someone else she really loves" Mio was now interested in the topic "How'd you say?"

"She cried for the person last night, I didn't tell it this morning to everyone cause I think she wanted it to be a secret"

"Then why are you telling me now?"

"Because… I trust you, and" Ritsu slightly looks away "You said you like me, so I thought you wanted to know"

Mio was now blushing, she couldn't believe what Ritsu just said

_Ritsu is actually thinking about my feelings for her_

"Ah, is that so, Thanks, I do want that"

The two girls are then awkward for the moment until lunch time is over.  
Later on at the club room, Miyu did what she promised; she sneaked in to the club room and agreed to tell what really happened.  
Mugi went to Miyu before she tells the story and apologizes to have believed the rumors, Miyu forgave her and said that "It's ok, I don't blame you, even my closest friends in the school believed it" with their misunderstanding and hidden bitter feelings solved, Miyu was now ready to share her story.  
"I want to start where I ended my story with Ricchan last night, none of the rumors about me having a harem were never true, and they were invented by different people in my campus. Who they are? I don't know, everyone, some were even my close friends, they made those rumors because they wanted me to break up with my then girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Mugi asks quiet shocked

"Yes, I had a girlfriend and that was never rumored, although it was the only true thing. My girlfriend was my first friend since middle school, we were always together and all, but she had a lot of fans and admirers in the school. By the 2nd year of our high school we had started to grow feelings of more than friends, and had started dating, I was an ordinary student with good grades but she was the schools famous drummer, yes the drums that I had are hers and I never was in a band, she tried to let me in but her band mates were jealous of me, everyone was jealous."  
Miyu was now crying softly, Ritsu and the others comforted her and said that she can stop now but Miyu insists that she wants to continue, she wants to take those bitter feelings out of her chest.

"The rumors about me being in a harem started little by little, and those involved in the rumor were trying to make it look like real, they had me help some students I didn't know about and accidentally push me into kissing them or make it look like I'm harassing them, they were paying these students at first but time grew and many students were already afraid of me, and the rumors just kept becoming surreal, my girlfriend believed in me though, and she always defended me and I was so happy, but then my mom heard the rumors, she didn't believe me at all and when she heard about my girlfriend, she got more furious and drop me out the next day, I was forced to live with my aunt here and enroll in a coed school, but I got attracted to Ritsu,  
My girlfriends name was Rika and she and Ritsu were so much alike, and I thought I could move on with Ritsu, and so I followed her here, then I heard my girlfriend had a new lover so I confessed to Ritsu, I wanted to make my girlfriend jealous, I was desperate to get back to her but my aunt discovered that I forged my school, so now my mother wants to take me to abroad, if I'm in abroad, I will never see Rika again! "  
Miyu was now crying heavily, and the other girls did their best to comfort her,  
at the end of the day, everyone went home with a gloomy mood, they felt sad for Miyu but Miyu insisted that they don't do anything, she was selfish to not let go of Rika and to lie to her whole family and so she must accept her punishment, besides she said, "maybe Rika and me were never meant for each other"  
The next day, Ritsu wakes up in the morning seeing Mio's face looking at her, the drummer smiles happily saying "hi, Mio" and shifts to her left, she is then murmuring in her bed sheets when she suddenly comes to,

"MIO!" she sits upright at her bed

"Good morning Ritsu" Mio smiles happily, she is finding it happy to see the waking Ritsu.

"Good Morn… huh wait, what are you doing here?"

Mio seats down at Ritsu's bed "I have a plan Ritsu and I want you to come with me"  
Much later on; Mio and Ritsu are now walking at an unfamiliar walkway inside a big campus, wondering where they would find a certain someone named Rika.  
The two of them are assisted by a student to the senior building and there they find Rika Tatsuna.  
Rika is initially bluffed with Mio and Ritsu's appearance but after introducing who they were and what their purpose was, Rika had no more hesitancy.

"Eh!?" Mio and Ritsu exclaim together "You never had a new lover?"

"No!, Miyu is my only one, and I don't know where she heard that" Rika said to the two,  
Rika was a simple girl, her hair was bluish black, it was cut short but a bit longer than Ritsu's and the end were cut in thin pointy tips. Her eyes were ash green, big yet beautiful, she was as tall as Mio, and her body built was fine and sexy.

"Then the more that we need to reunite the two of you" Mio held Rika's hand

"Come on Rika-chan! Miyu misses you so much"

"Huh? Wait, I'm not sure of this" Ritsu then gets irritated that Rika is dashing Mio "What do you mean you're not sure?"

"Guys, I know you want to help Miyu and me but her mom doesn't approve us"

"So what if she doesn't?" Mio answers her, she looks at Ritsu who exchange looks at her, Mio then blushes and takes Ritsu's hand and pulls her to her "That never stopped us!"

Both Rika and Ritsu are somewhat confused

"You and Ritsu are lovers?"

The two of them blush but Mio still goes on "Well, yeah, wasn't it obvious?" she then laughs afterwards to which Ritsu laughs along not really sure if they're doing the right thing.

"No, you were actually awkward with each other, but hey if you say so, but still… Miyu's mom is harder than you think"  
Ritsu was now getting more annoyed with Rika, she lets go of Mio's hand and taps it to Rika's chest "Hey, how can you not even try, I mean milady here is already doing her best to give you a happy ending and your just dishing our efforts, so here's the last time Tatsuna, are you coming or not?!"  
And yes, with the valor of Ritsu's straightforwardness and antics, the doubtful Rika Tatsuna has decided to 'give it a try'.  
On their way back to the other city, Mio and Ritsu were seated next to each other in the train while Rika was seated in front of them, their hands were still entwined together much to each other's blush,

"So, Mio, how long are we going to this? I think Rika knows that were just acting"

"I don't know, if she does know, then maybe we should stop now" Mio was now sliding off her hand when Ritsu re-holds it,

"On second thought, I think it's nice if we hold hands"  
Mio looks at Ritsu who was blushing red, she then smiles and puts her head down on Ritsu's shoulder.  
After getting back to town Rika is introduced to the rest of the k-on club and they excitedly wait for Miyu's arrival. Once could imagine the happiness and love that spread to the atmosphere as the reunited lovers are met at each other's arms, they cried, they laughed, they explained and forgave each other, every moment was touching and the club was happy for their new members regained happiness.

"Mio, Thank you so much!" Rika happily went to Mio "You've made me realize that me and Miyu can still work things out" Rika embraces Mio,

"It's nothing Rika, you're really welcome" Mio embraces her back,  
Ritsu was looking at the scene from the corner of her eye, she was talking with Mugi and Yui when she noticed Rika approach Mio, now that they were embracing, Ritsu was feeling upset in the stomach, Mugi noticed that her eyes were looking somewhere else now,

"Ricchan, what are you looking at?" Mugi asks her

"Huh?" Ritsu comes to "Oh, nothing, it's really great that Miyu's happy now"

"It's like that movie I watched a long time ago" Yui reminisces with googly eyes

"The yuri one?" Azusa asks from her side

"ahum" Yui nods at her

"really? You seem to like it so much Yui-senpai"

"Of course I do Azu-nyan, sometimes I wish you and I can be like that"  
Azusa who was busy drinking her soda blurted everything she just sipped. "Yu…Yui-senpai, are you…by any chance a…le...lesbian?"

"Huh?" Yui's expression shows that she doesn't get the situation "hmm, why'd you ask Azu-nyan? Am I like one?"

"he..heh? no, it's just" Azusa was now blushing "Mou Yui-senpai!" she then yells in front of Yui,

"Gomen ne, Azu-nyan but I really don't know how to answer you" Yui was now scratching her head, Ritsu was in front of her drinking some soda of her own, when she couldn't resist but to dig in the conversation Ritsu sighs "huh, Yui you're really a spoonful sometimes"

"Huh? What do you mean Ricchan?"

"When Azusa was referring to lesbian, she meant a girl liking another girl"

"Oh" Yui exhales "then aren't we all lesbians then?" Mugi laughs lightly at this, while Ritsu and Azusa are awing with "What?!"

Yui's expression was now getting scared "But...you said girls who like girls, and don't we all like each other, and were all girls…doesn't that make us les..."

"No, Yui! When I said girls liking girls, I meant the kind of like between lovers!"

Mugi was still laughing but it was a bit louder now "Oh, come on Ricchan, Yui just misunderstood what you said" Mugi smiled at Yui "right Yui-chan?" Yui's eyes began to tear lightly as she hugged Mugi "Mugi-chan"

"there, there" Mugi strokes Yui's hair "I do think that what Yui said was still true"

"You do Mugi-senpai?"

"Well, yes Asuza, you see, a certain pair of lovebirds are hiding at our club" Mugi narrows her eyes at Ritsu who is simply shocked with what Mugi was doing right now

_what the? Mugi knows...and is she rating me out?_

"Ehehe" Ritsu is now the one rubbing her head "What are you talking about Mugi? Were all friends in the club, nothing less….nothing mo...re" Mugi's eyebrows were shifting downwards, she was signaling Ritsu that she knows everything already, and that its time for the other two to know too.

"Ok, I surrender" Mugi smiles victoriously, Yui then lifts herself up, she and Azusa look at each other

"What do you mean Ritsu-senpai?"

"Azusa, Yui, there's been something of a change between Mio and I"

"What sort of change Ricchan?" Yui asks

"You see, Mio-chan confessed to like me, like me"

"Mio-chan/senpai is a lesbian?" Both girls react

"Well, no…maybe, whatever! Even if she was a lesbian she told me that I'd be the only girl she'd like! And I, I like her too"

"Oh, Ricchan" Yui and Mugi heartwarmingly choruses

"Heh? Mugi-senpai, Yui-senpai, aren't you going to be shocked?"

"Oh no no no, Azu-nyan, love is love whatever gender it'll be" Yui hugs Azusa

"heh?!" Azusa then looks at Mugi "Mugi-senpai..?" but Mugi just smiles in agreement with Yui,  
with the two of them smothered already, Azusa then looks at Ritsu, she noticed their hyperactive president was actually blushing and looking away, possibly feeling shy

_Ritsu-senpai must really be serious, Mugi-senpai and Yui-senpai are happy for them and so should I!  
_

"Ritsu-senpai" Ritsu slowly turns to look at Azusa "I wish the best for you and Mio-senpai!"

"Azusa" Ritsu says in an almost whisper, she then smiles widely with red blushing cheeks "Hai! Well can do!"  
The four of them then whisk to their happiness. At the fall of sunset the light music club is now ready to send off their dearest short term member.  
Mugi says her farewell to Miyu "Miyu-chan, I'm sorry for the doubts I've had on you, and even if I've spent a lot of times being spiteful and untrusting of you, I really enjoyed your stay in the club"

"Me too Mugi-chan, although we weren't that close to each other, I'm glad I got to taste your tea and cakes"

"I'll be happy to serve more to you, just visit anytime you want"

"I sure will" ith these, the two girls embrace each other, Yui is then next,  
She holds Miyu's finger and starts to pinch it softly "Miyu-chan, although you don't really play drums, your hands are still gifted to make cute clothes within hours"

Miyu laughs and smiles enthusiastically at Yui, "Oh Yui, I'll be sure to miss your mischievousness"

"I'll miss you too Miyu-chan!"

Azusa was just standing at their back, happily looking at the happy farewell, she then joins in and says her own goodbye

"Miyu-senpai, you were my first senpai in the club who actually acted normal, so please don't change"

"Is that so? Well I highly recommend you learn to like your senpai's more, they're actually the type you'd miss even before you get separated" Miyu pats Azusa head and encloses her in a short embrace. Ritsu then steps to say her goodbye to Miyu

"So I'm not really your love huh?" Miyu smiles at her and shrugs her shoulder "No, I do love you, just in a different way though, my heart belongs to Rika"

"Phew!, Am I glad to hear that" Both girls laugh then, "And I have noticed that you have someone of your own in your heart"  
Miyu looks at Mio not too far, Ritsu knows this without following Miyu's vision

"You shouldn't let her go Ricchan, she's a keeper"

"What makes you think I will" The auburn girl and black haired girl exchange smiles and share a very intimate hug

"I'm happy I met you Ricchan"

"I'am too, Miyu, I hope you'll fight for her now" Miyu smiles as Ritsu remembers her screams when she emotionally broke down,

"I will Ritsu, my mom won't stop me anymore nor can any rumor"

"That's the sprit"

After they break their hug, Miyu clings into Rika, the four of them are then waving hands at each other, but before the couple have gone far, Miyu runs back to the group, she goes to Mio and takes her hand

"I know we've said our good-bye's when the others were in the restaurant, but there's something I've been hesitating to say"  
Mio was looking at Miyu and laughed lightly, "What?"

"Thank you. Thank you for everything Mio. I realized now that I could never be your rival, you have too much guts and love in you, and I'm sure I can never meet anyone like you anymore, although we were bitter with each other, you were willing to help me and give me happiness, Thank you, thank you so much Mio" Miyu chan was now tearful as she hugged Mio.

"I'm thankful for you too Miyu, you helped me realize my feelings, I understood your pain and I wanted you to be happy, I couldn't imagine what I'd do if I lose Ritsu"

"Don't worry Mio, I know that won't happen to the two of you, you guys have a stronger bond than me and Rika, and I'm sure that the two of you would make a heck of a couple!"

The two laughed silly in their embrace, they were talking so lightly that the four girls in the side were not able to hear their conversation; they just stared there and admired the new found friendship, everyone had achieved.  
At the view of the lights at the night of Japan, the five girls are now at their separating lane, Yui, Azusa and Mugi waves from the other sidewalk to Ritsu and Mio, the girls then walk to their humble homes, Mugi is smiling brightly as she sees Ritsu and Mio happily talking as they walked, she also smiles happily when she noticed her two companions were now holding hands down the lane, Once left alone in the train station, Mugi contemplates to herself with a big smile,

"What a wonderful yuri ending"

Chapter Seven End.


	8. CHAPTER VIII

Today is a beautiful day, the falling of the leaves in the ground marked the early set-on of the spring season, and the winds were now billowing the windows with warm breeze and humid scent. The sun rose high and fleeted its lights to the home of one excited drummer.

"hahaha! Onee-chan's fixing her bangs! Mom! Ritsu-Oneechan's fixing her bangs!"

"Quiet up Satoshi! Is it so wrong to fix my bangs when I feel like it?" Ritsu was standing in front of her desk mirror in her bedroom; her bangs were damply shiny indicating that she was likely putting some cream on it or something. She was now blushing because of her little brothers teasing.

"Yes it is! I've never seen you fix it, and I suddenly find you doing it in the morning!" Satoshi is now looking at her older sister from head to toe "And in your under garments too, have you gone crazy during the night?"

Ritsu really was just in her under garments, she was wearing a pink boxer and a white sleeveless shirt, she was now embarrassed and dragged Satoshi out of her room and locked the door after.

_Geez, Can't someone just do what they want!  
_

Downstairs Satoshi was telling her older sister's queerness to their mother "Onee-chan has never cared about her looks before, Mom, do you think that Onee-chan is actually having a crush?" Satoshi's voice was clearly showing concern; he is very close to his jumpy older sister. They might bicker and tease each other a lot but it cannot be argued that they do love each other a lot, and being a brother, even if he is younger, Satoshi's not going to let just any guy take his sister away from him. The problem is, the person who has come to take his sister away was not a he, but a she.

"Oh, Satoshi, don't worry about your sister, she might be carefree and a bit irresponsible, but she knows how to choose people, look at how wonderful her friends are"

"Hmm, yeah, but who could the guy be?" Mrs. Tainaka was preparing their breakfast at the table now, she smiled teasingly at Satoshi's curiosity

"Satoshi, call your sister to eat now"

"Ok, Mom" Satoshi was now exiting the kitchen area when called for him,

"And Satoshi,"

"Yes, Mom?"

"I really think you shouldn't be focusing on a boy"

"Huh? What do you mean mom?"

'Just a little advice, now go and call your sister, before the food gets cold"

"Ah, ok" Satoshi then leaves thinking about what his mother's words really meant.

After the Tainaka's finish their breakfast, Satoshi heads on to go to school, leaving his older sister who still had a lot of arranging to do, He closes their gate and see's Mio standing by the nearest pole. Satoshi offers Mio a warm smile as he approaches her,

"Good morning, Mio-oneechan"

"Good morning Satoshi-kun, Did Ritsu wake up late again?"

"No, actually Mio-oneechan I think she woke up very early today"

"Wow, that's a change"

"Yeah, It's weird, I was going to wake her up when I saw her fixing her bangs in front of the mirror"

"Now that's an even bigger surprise"

"I think Ritsu-oneechan has a crush on someone, some guy must have seen her bangs down and praised her, and bang, she fell for him"  
Mio laughed slightly at what Satoshi said, "Mio-oneechan, do you find it that impossible for Ritsu-oneechan to have a crush? Or vice versa?"

Still laughing "No,no, it's just…" slowly stops laughing, Mio wipes the little tears that has formed in her eyes.

_Oh boy, Satoshi, how I wish Ritsu was that easily to fall in love_

"Do you have an idea Mio-oneechan?"

"Huh? Idea on who Satoshi?"

"Of who the guy could be, I mean, are you aware of anyone who has shown to like Ritsu-oneechans bangs down?"

"Well, no, I don't but… I particularly like Ritsu when her bangs are down, she looks really different"

"Yes, she does, she looks like a girl when it's down"

"Not her typical image is it?"

"No" The two share a burst of laughter

_But Ritsu is really cute when her bangs are down_

The two are then halt from their laughing when their person of interest came out of the gate and ran towards them.

"Hey, I saw you guys laughin', what were you laughin about?" Ritsu states in her active voice

"Nothing you would laugh along with, now come on or will be late" Mio entangles her arms to Ritsu's right arm,  
Ritsu frowns for a moment before saying anything, "Ok, ok, you comin with us Satoshi?"

"No thanks Onee-chan"

"Why look who's the ungrateful one, listen Satoshi, if you get invited by your sister, you should always accept it"

"My schools in the other direction Onee-chan, I'll totally be late by the time I reach my school if I go to your way"

"Oh, well, if you say so, bye then squirt" Ritsu pats Satoshi's head heavily, wrecking the boys combed hair, Satoshi remove's Ritsu's hand and holds his hair,

"Oh, men, Onee-chan, you ruined my hair!" Ritsu grins widely and walks off with Mio

_that's payment for teasing me this morning_

Ritsu was remembering the reason why she did that anyways,

_the wild reason is actually clutching to my right arm at the moment.  
Really, I couldn't sleep well last night because I was thinking of how to confess to Mio, and I remembered her saying that she liked it when my bangs are down. I thought it'd be sweet if I confess to her doing that  
_

Ritsu has forgotten that Mio was still with her, she suddenly sighed her loudest and lump her shoulders down, much to Mio's befuddlement "What was that sigh for" Mio asked Ritsu leaning her head to hers

"Nothing you would sigh along with" Mio frowned just like Ritsu awhile ago, knowing her own words backfired at her,

"Come on, we're almost at school" Ritsu is now the one clutching onto Mio's arm.  
At the school, Mugi and You greet them good morning. The day fast forwards to afternoon and the four were already at the club room; Azusa has yet to arrive, so the four girls tackle at by the table for the while.

"Ricchan and Mio-chan came a little late today" Yui told the group

"Yeah, we had some minor delays" Mio answers her, looking at Ritsu with blame

"I had to arrange my notebooks, I forgot to do them last night"

"You might want Mio-chan to be your reminder sometimes, I'm sure she'd be happy to text you a lot" Mugi enjoyingly suggests, by this, Mio and Ritsu were then blushing, and looked away from Yui and Mugi. Yui shifts to the lovebirds back and pull them close to each other,

"It's ok Ricchan, Mio-chan, we're more than happy now that you're a couple"

"Huh?" Mio reacts

"I personally adore girl-to-girl love, Yuri is very sweet" Mugi adds without a care of Mio's reaction

"What?" Mio again reacts

"Yeah, Azusa and me might even be next" Yui was like in cloud nine just to imagine it

"Really? When?!" Ritsu reacted excitedly

"Not you too" Mio reacts almost at the same time

Now all four of them had something to say more, but before the talk escalates further, Mio stretches her arms wide in front of her and yells in the lowest yet hearable voice she can "Stop just a minute!"

The three girls are then silenced

"Mio-chan what's wrong" Mugi asks her seemingly agitated friend

"This is what's wrong, When did I and Ritsu become a couple? (She pointed at Ritsu with two hands open) how did Yui know about Ritsu and Me? (She points her fingers to Yui), and Yui why are you suddenly going yuri for Azusa? (She points her finger closer) and why are you reacting to the wrong situation? (Mio cuffs Ritsu's collar)"

"heh –he-he" Ritsu squinted with a scared tone but Mugi and Yui saves her from more terror,

"Eh, so you two aren't a couple yet?"

"No, this drumhead hasn't even given me an answer!"

"What?! RICCHAN!" the two exclaim together

"I was still thinking about it!" Ritsu exclaims back (when she said this, she really meant that she was still practicing what she'd say, but it came out to sound like she was still unsure if she would accept Mio) Mugi and Yui seem to have understood it after processing it a bit, but Mio might have been a little emotional. Because she took the sentence literally, she came to tears, she stood up and looked at Ritsu with the most painful expression she had worn and quickly went running outside. The three of them sat there in silence without a wink. A second passes and Azusa appears, hopping with worry, she went to her senpai's who were still motionless in their seat.

"Ritsu-senpai, what are you still sitting there for?! Mio-senpai just ran passed me while crying! Ritsu-senpai!" Azusa was now lightly tugging Ritsu's arm, which has seemed to wake up from her shock, she quickly stands up and ignores everything around her and put up a running stance to the door.

"Oh my god, I need to chase Mio!" Ritsu is then out of sight.

"Mio-chan suddenly crying scared me" Mugi said with a sigh

"Azu-nyan!" Yui went to her kouhai who was left standing in front of the buochou's empty seat  
Azusa sighed and left her body to relax in her senpai's arms.

"Yui-senpai, really"

Mugi then called to them across the table, she was now smiling "Would you want to have tea?"

Now at the streets Mio is running with no stop, and everyone in the road was looking at the beautiful raven hair who was crying her tears out in the sprint. But in another street, the people were also looking at an auburn haired girl, running much much faster than the speed of the other sprinter. She was sweating mad, and has been jumping, and turning at the distractions of passer by's and cars that blocked her portals to reach her interest. At a not so far away street she suddenly takes a long jump to a low wooden fence and succeeds to land on the other side of the street. She breathes heavily and looks through the crowd, within the small radius of her sight, she easily spots her target and hurries to catch her,

_Damn it Mio, Don't go rejecting me before I even confess!_

The hasty girls footsteps became wider and bigger, her speed accelerated and her heart thump louder, some people who were rude enough bumped casually at her, and even if sometimes the bump would impact her, she wouldn't complain nor flinch and just continued to chase the girl set before her eyes, and with the blink of the red lights in the stoplights, all stops walking. The drumhead was now faster and even from a two meters distance, she was already lifting her hand to reach for the girl's arm, and as their distance shortened, Ritsu's came to envelop Mio's arms.

The hard, forceful tug of the chaser was received with surprise by the chased. Mio faced her back and saw a sweating figure. Ritsu was dreading with sweat, her collar was damp now, her ribbon was untied and her headband has fallen from the bumps she's received.

"Ritsu…" Mio said in a more surprised and worried tone rather than anger or hurt.

Ritsu softly wiped her sweat and takes off her head band and combs her bangs down with her bare fingers, she then smiles at Mio,

"I think you forgot I'm a better runner than you"

"look Ritsu, if you don't like me, I won't get mad, we could still even be friends" Mio was shaking her arm, trying to make Ritsu let go of her, but Ritsu drags her to the next street when the stoplight starts, a few blocks go by and the two reach a familiar place. Ritsu pulls Mio inside an old park where the two would always pass by when they went to school in elementary.  
Ritsu then loosens her holds on Mio, and quickly talks "Mio, I'm not rejecting, I wouldn't"

"Then why did you say that in the club"

"You misunderstood that"

"How could I misunderstand it?" Ritsu then embraces Mio tightly to her, a long count passes before she softens the hug and slowly lifts her arms to cuff Mio's face, now their faces were so close to each other, their nose were close to touching and their breathing synchronized through the air.  
Slightly panting, Ritsu puts less distance between their faces, she was standing in tiptoe in order to reach Mio's eye level

"I love you, Mio" Their eyes are now looking only at each other, and Mio knew that Ritsu was honest, "I love you too Ritsu" Mio answers in a scarce voice, it was low yet it held strong feelings, Ritsu shifted her hands to Mio's neck and let their foreheads touch

"I'll never know how I became so oblivious, with all this feelings I've had for you" Mio laughed with her tears of joy, her hands has now made their way to Ritsu's back, and was also working on pulling the shorter girl closer to her, "And I was stupid to deny mine for a long time"

"Does this mean that we're both fools when it comes to love?" Ritsu's face was closer than ever to Mio's,

Mio then leans closer too "That or we were just made for each other"

Mio then pulls Ritsu from her back while Ritsu pushes her head closer to hers, in a jump of the moment their lips had found each other, Ritsu's hand held onto Mio's neck with a force now, and then to deepen the kiss, while Mio embraced her tighter every time.

_Mio…Mio's lips are so soft, they're warm and sweet, I can't take it, the more I try to pull away, the more I thirst for it. It's our first kiss but it's like my lips has always known hers, there's no awkwardness, it's just overwhelming, yet it also feels like I've always imagined what this felt Ohhh… Mio, you don't know how much you turn me_

The kiss was long, passionate, hard and intoxicating, they have barely enough air to breathe and were still in the cuddle of each other,

_Mio's face is so flustered, her eyes are tearing in the side, she must have closed them the whole time like I did, and her lips, their so puffy and wet, hehe, I must look like that too  
_

Ritsu then caresses Mio's hair and brings it to the back of her ear, she leans her mouth there and whispers to Mio "You know I'm happy, I got to confess to you with my bangs down"

Mio pulls Ritsu away from her ear, "I'm the reason why you were fixing your bangs in the morning?"

"Of course, you're the only one I'd do that for, you said you liked them"

"Yeah, as much as I like you" Mio took some of Ritsu's bangs and kissed them lightly

"Oh, and I know that that's what you and Satoshi were laughing about" Ritsu said in a teasing tone

"Well, we have an eavesdropper on the loose"

"Oh yeah, why don't you capture her then?"

"Don't worry she isn't going to escape from now on"

"Good, cause she'd like to be your only prisoner"

"And I'd like to be her only mate"

Ritsu smiles proudly at Mio "would you be my girlfriend?"

"As long as you promise to be mine also"

"Deal" the two smiles at each other, before briefly kissing again.

- Two Years Later-

"RITSU! Wake up already!"

"Hah!... I'm late! I'm late!" Ritsu quickly stands up from her bed, she was just wearing a black boxer and a gray sleeveless shirt as she hurried to the bathroom when Mio pulled her from the back of her Shirt, "Ahh" Ritsu yells with a strangled voice

"you're not late yet dummy, I just woke you for breakfast"

"Oh, ok" Ritsu looks at Mio who was wearing a bath robe, but it was slightly opened at the front revealing her black panties and gray bra.  
Ritsu went close to Mio and pulled her hair to the left, revealing her white, soft neck, Ritsu kisses her here. Mio is indeed being turned on, Ritsu bites her ear and whispers to her

"Did you wear those to pair mine?" Mio's expression is that of a success, she then tilts her head to face eye to eye with Ritsu "This is actually a coincidence"

"Yeah, a coincidence that's been happening every day"

"Well, if you don't want it to happen, then I'd just have to get naked everyday"

"You won't dare"

"Who knows?" Ritsu doesn't say anything anymore and just leans in to kiss Mio. After their breakfast Mio changes into her own clothes (the bath robe belongs to Ritsu too) and says her bye to Ritsu

"I'll go change in my room now, meet you later" She kisses Ritsu in the cheeks

"Sometimes I wonder what's the use of having separate dorm rooms"

"We do take turns in who's room we'll sleep every night, so it's not really a waste, it's actually kind of fun" Mio then shuts the door

"Oh, well better get dressin up too" Ritsu exclaims while stretching her arms up, she then washes the plates and goes to take a bath.

Now in their new University, Ritsu and the others all have different courses and schedules, and they all live in the same dorm, Mio and Ritsu's room are next to each other but much to almost everyone but Yui and Mugi's knowledge, the couple would find their selves in the bed of either ones bedroom by the morning.

Extra Ending

Ritsu has just bought a new pair of drumsticks, she meets Mio at her dorm and the two of them chat for a considerable amount of time, by the time they had to separate, Mio pleads her girlfriend to photocopy the clubs new event (Until now, Ritsu is standing as the president of the Light music club, college). At the Photocopying firm, A 30's something woman notices her drum sticks and HTT t-shirt. The woman inquires if she was in a band, to which Ritsu replies "yes". The photocopy is done and the woman sees the poster of the HTT, she looks at it interestingly and smiles to Ritsu, she then asks if she could hear a demo song of theirs. Ritsu gladly took out her cell phone and handed the woman her headsets, the lady smiled while she listened to the music, she takes out the headsets before the music ends and offers something to the buchou "Would you like to play at my event?"

Ritsu is surprised that the lady was suddenly scouting their band, She badly wanted to say yes but she had to ask the others first.

"Ah, Thanks for the offer but I want to ask my band mates first"

"I have no problem with that, here, contact me when you decide" The woman hands Ritsu a piece of paper with her number written. Once Ritsu has called out the HTT members, she announces the proposal. All agreed to the event but was curious on what event could it be. They call the number of the lady and a voice message connects

"Good Afternoon, this is the Scout Inc., we handle all applications and events for the upcoming Budokan event"

The HTT's eyes are now big and they were all holding their breaths, Ritsu took the phone and explained that her band was invited by , the voice message is then turned off and Ms. Takako connects, A triumphant smile creeps into her mouth, she doesn't say anything more but "I know you'd say yes, your already listed" the five them were in utter awe and shock now, just then the TV flashes a commercial with a message at the end "with the commemoration of the annual 50th events, the budoukan has taken three new fresh bands, the XcreamZip, the DemoMArkUp, and the first ever all girl band to enter the amateur league, The HTT, selected specifically by the chairwoman"

Everyone was now sure that they were not dreaming and everyone screamed in joy and glee. At the practice stage of the event Ritsu was happy and afraid of the opportunity, Mio then comforts her girlfriend

"Ritsu, everything's going to go well"

"But what if we get doped at?"

"Nah, I don't think that could happen"

"Mio, you don't know how harsh reality is, some viewers won't have mercy just cause were fluffy fluffy"

"What's wrong with being fluffy?"

"Ahhh" Ritsu exclaims in an angsty way

"Hahaha, Oh, Ritsu calm down already"

"But everyone in this room are amazing Mio, they're rockers, professionals, what do we have against them?"

"Ritsu, this isn't a contest, and first of all, we're not here to outshine anyone" Mio held Ritsu's hands "Ritsu if this is the band we made together, I know it'll be amazing, and no one is going to dope us, ok? Your becoming paranoid, this event is for fun, and I say we have fun"  
Ritsu realizes that what Mio said is true, she shouldn't worry about this, they came there to have fun and fulfill their dreams,

"Yeah, your right Mio, we can do this, no one can beat Hokago Tea Time when it comes to having fun!"

"Now that's my Ritsu"

"Thanks for giving me confidence Mio"

"What are girlfriends for?" The two share a quick kiss before getting on their positions.

The curtains are now rising and the loud shouts of HTT and band member names are yelled. The five girls look at each other, Mio locks eye contact with Ritsu and nods her head, Ritsu taps her drum sticks together and counts 1, 2,3,.

THE END.  
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